Varivode massacre
Varivode massacre | |
---|---|
Location | Village of Croatian Serb villagers |
Attack type | Mass killing |
Deaths | 9[1][2] |
Perpetrators | Croatian Army (HV) and Croatian police[3] |
The Varivode massacre was a mass killing that occurred on 28 September 1995 in the village of Varivode, Croatia during the Croatian War of Independence. According to United Nations officials, soldiers of the Croatian Army (HV) and Croatian police killed nine Serb villagers, all of whom were between the ages of 60 and 85.[4] After the war, six former Croatian soldiers were tried for committing crimes in the village, but were all eventually released due to lack of evidence. In 2012, the Supreme Court of Croatia ruled that the Republic of Croatia was responsible for the killings, dubbing the massacre an "act of terrorism," and the following year the municipal court in Knin announced that the Government of Croatia must provide compensation to the children of a couple who were murdered.
Background
Following the
In May, the Croatian government responded by forming the
Killings
On the night of 28 September 1995, Croatian soldiers entered the village of Varivode and killed nine elderly Serb villagers. The civilians that were killed were Jovan Berić, Marko Berić, Milka Berić, Radivoje Berić, Marija Berić, Dušan Dukić, Jovo Berić, Špiro Berić and Mirko Pokrajac. After the executions occurred, the bodies were buried in a cemetery near the village without the knowledge of the families of the victims.[4] There were no witnesses to the massacre, although the survivors and relatives of the victims stated that people in military uniforms arrived in the village days before the attack, and robbed and abused the remaining Serb residents who had not left following Operation Storm.[27]
Aftermath
After the massacre, Croatian authorities denied reports of widespread atrocities targeting Serbs and said that they were propaganda. Later, the government blamed the atrocities on uncontrollable elements within the Croatian Army and Croatian police.[28] Christiane Amanpour's report from October 1995 said that the "United Nations believes 12 Serb civilians were massacred."[28] In the first one hundred days following Operation Storm, at least 150 Serb civilians were summarily executed, and many hundreds disappeared as part of a widespread campaign of revenge against Croatia's Serb minority.[29]
The bodies of the killed Serbs were never exhumed, autopsies were never performed and much of the evidence that could have been used against the perpetrators of the crime was discarded.[30] Despite this, six Croatian soldiers were tried for committing crimes in the village. The soldiers were Ivan Jakovljević, Pero Perković, Neđeljko Mijić, Zlatko Ladović, Ivica Petrić and Nikola Rašić.[30] All six were acquitted for the Varivode massacre as well as for killings in the village of Gošić, although Petrić was found guilty and sentenced to six years for the murder of a civilian in the village of Zrmanja and Rašić was sentenced to a year in prison for attempted robbery and the attempted murder of a civilian in the municipality of Knin.[27] The acquittal part of the verdict was quashed and a re-trial was ordered which ended in the dropping of charges and release of the accused in 2002 for lack of evidence.[27][30]
Legal proceedings
The Varivode massacre was listed in the
In July 2012, the Supreme Court of Croatia ruled that the Republic of Croatia was responsible for the deaths of the nine Serb villagers who were killed in Varivode. The Supreme Court declared, "two months after the conclusion of Operation Storm, an act of terrorism was committed against the Serb inhabitants of Varivode for the purpose of causing fear, hopelessness and to spread feelings of personal insecurity among the citizens."[34]
On 23 January 2013, the municipal court in Knin upheld that the Croatian government of the time was responsible for the killings in Varivode, and reiterated that the killings were an act of terrorism against the Serb inhabitants of the village. Furthermore, the court announced that the Croatian government must pay 540,000 kuna (€ 72,000) to the children of massacre-victims Radivoje and Marija Berić.[35][36] The European Commission welcomed the court's ruling, stating that the court had "addressed for the first time a long-standing grievance."[37]
Commemoration
A wooden monument was erected to commemorate the victims of the massacre. In April 2010, the plaque was destroyed by a Croatian war veteran and had to be rebuilt.
The Croatian
References
- ^ "Croats Leave Bloody Trail of Serbian Dead". The Chicago Tribune. 9 October 1995. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ "Croatia Admits Serb Civilians Were Killed". Los Angeles Times. 3 October 1995. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ Za ratne zločine nad Srbima u Oluji niko osuđen | Dosije | Novosti.rs
- ^ a b Chris Hedges (5 October 1995). "9 Aged Serbs Found Slain In Croat Town". New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-139-48750-4.
- ISBN 978-1-139-48750-4.
- ^ "Roads Sealed as Yugoslav Unrest Mounts". The New York Times. Reuters. 19 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
- ^ "The Prosecutor vs. Milan Martic – Judgement" (PDF). International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 12 June 2007.
- ISBN 978-1-139-48750-4.
- ISBN 978-0-253-34656-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-139-48750-4.
- ^ Engelberg, Stephen (3 March 1991). "Belgrade Sends Troops to Croatia Town". The New York Times.
- ^ Sudetic, Chuck (2 April 1991). "Rebel Serbs Complicate Rift on Yugoslav Unity". The New York Times.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85743-058-5.
- ^ Bellamy, Christopher (10 October 1992). "Croatia built 'web of contacts' to evade weapons embargo". The Independent.
- ISBN 978-3-86653-729-3.
- ISBN 978-1-55753-533-7.
- ^ Sudetic, Chuck (18 November 1991). "Croats Concede Danube Town's Loss". The New York Times.
- ^ Marlise Simons (10 October 2001). "Milosevic, Indicted Again, Is Charged With Crimes in Croatia". New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ "Milosevic: Important New Charges on Croatia". Human Rights Watch. 21 October 2001. Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
- ^ "Croatia human rights practices, 1993; Section 2, part d". United States Department of State. 31 January 1994.
- ^ a b Sudetic, Chuck (3 January 1992). "Yugoslav Factions Agree to U.N. Plan to Halt Civil War". The New York Times.
- ^ Williams, Carol J. (29 January 1992). "Roadblock Stalls U.N.'s Yugoslavia Deployment". Los Angeles Times.
- ISBN 978-0-8223-4746-0.
- ISBN 978-1-61048-891-4.
- ^ Neven Crvenkovic (5 August 2005). "Home again, 10 years after Croatia's Operation Storm". UNHCR. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ^ a b c Opacic, Tamara (4 August 2020). "No Justice for Elderly Serbs Executed in Croatian Villages". BalkanInsight. BIRN.
- ^ a b Christiane Amanpour (4 October 1995). "Croats accused of atrocities against Serb civilians". CNN. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ "Croat army shelled civilians, report says". CNN. 21 March 1999. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- ^ a b c Vesti online / Vesti / Ex YU / Hrvatska priznala masakr nad devetoro Srba u Varivodama
- ^ "Gotovina - Indictment". ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 21 May 2001.
- ^ "Judgement Summary for Gotovina et al" (PDF). ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 15 April 2011.
- ^ a b "Gotovina and Markac, IT-06-90-A" (PDF). ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 16 November 2012.
- ^ Vrhovni sud: Hrvatska je odgovorna za zločin u Varivodama! - Hrvatska / Novi list
- ^ Zorana Deljanin (23 January 2013). "Pravda za Varivode: Država mora platiti 540 tisuća kuna odštete djeci ubijenih srpskih civila!". Novi List. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ "Knin: Za ubistvo Srba 72.000 evra". Večernje Novosti. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ "EU backs Croatia to join in July as 28th member state". BBC. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ "Srušen spomen-križ žrtvama zločina u Varivodama". Slobodna Dalmacija. 23 April 2010.
- ^ "Otkrivanje spomenika srpskim civilima u Varivodama". Vesti-online. Tanjug. 5 October 2010.
- ^ "Kosor condemns vandalization of Serb memorial". B92.net. 24 April 2010. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014.
- ^ "Spomen-obilježje stradalim srpskim civilima". vijesti.hrt.hr. 5 October 2010.
- ^ "Naši rukometaši jedva pobijedili "liliputance" iz Litve". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 31 October 2010.
- ^ "Croat president honors Serb victims". B92.net. 6 October 2010.
- ^ "Josipović otkrio spomenik ubijenim srpskim civilima". Vesti-online. Večernji list. 5 October 2010.