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Uzdolje killings

Uzdolje killings
LocationUzdolje, Knin, Croatia
Date6 August 1995
TargetElderly Croatian Serb villagers
Attack type
Mass killing
Deaths10[1]
PerpetratorsCroatian Army (HV)

The Uzdolje killings was the mass murder of at least ten Croatian Serb civilians from the village of Uzdolje, near Knin on 6 August 1995 by members of the Croatian Army (HV) in the aftermath of Operation Storm.

Background

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Main articles: Croatian War of Independence and Operation Storm

By March 1991, tensions between Croats and Serbs escalated into the Croatian War of Independence.[2] Following a referendum on independence that was largely boycotted by Croatian Serbs,[3] the Croatian parliament officially adopted independence on 25 June.[4] The Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK) declared its intention to secede from Croatia and join the Republic of Serbia while the Government of the Republic of Croatia declared it a rebellion.[5] Between August 1991 and February 1992, the RSK initiated an ethnic cleansing campaign to drive out the Croat and non-Serb population from RSK-held territory,[6] eventually expelling as many as 250,000 people according to Human Rights Watch.[7] Croatian forces also engaged in ethnic cleansing against Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina on a more limited scale.[8] On 4 August 1995, the Croatian Army (HV) launched Operation Storm to retake the Krajina region which was completed successfully by 7 August.[9] The Operation resulted in the exodus of approximately 200,000 Serbs from Krajina while those Serbs who were unable or unwilling to leave their homes, primarily the elderly, were subjected to various crimes.[10] The ICTY puts the number of Serb civilians killed at 324.[11]

Killings

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On the morning of 6 August 1995, three men with automatic rifles drove to the hamlet of Šare and into the village of Uzdolje, finding eight people, the oldest of whom was Djudjija Beric, 79 years old.[12] Seven of them were killed near the Knin - Drniš road, while the surviving witness, who was injured, managed to escape into the forest.[12] The other victims were Milica Sare, Stevo Beric, Janja Beric, Krsto Sare, Milos Cosic, Jandrija Sara and 73-year-old Sava Sare, who was killed on her porch afterwards.[1]

In the nearby hamlet of Vrbnik, unknown Croatian soldiers also killed 61- or 62-year-old Lazo Damjanic and 28-year-old Predrag Zaric.[1] Days after Operation Storm, ten other civilians were also killed in surrounding villages.[12]

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The killings in the village were included in the ICTY's indictment of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina.[13] In the appeal of the trial of Gotovina et al which acquitted Gotovina and Mladen Markač, the ICTY ruled that there was insufficient evidence to conclude the existence of a joint criminal enterprise to remove Serb civilians by force.[14] The Appeals Chamber further stated that the Croatian Army and Special Police committed crimes after the artillery assault, but the state and military leadership had no role in their planning and creation.[14]

Though no one has been held responsible for these crimes, the Zagreb-based NGO Documenta - Center for Dealing with the Past filed a criminal complaint to the Croatian state attorney’s office in 2017.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Milekic, Sven (4 August 2017). "Croatia's Operation Storm: Crimes Unpunished 22 Years On". BalkanInsight. BIRN.
  2. ^ Lucien, Ellington (2005). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 437. ISBN 978-1-57607-800-6.
  3. ^ Chuck Sudetic (20 May 1991). "Croatia Votes for Sovereignty and Confederation". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Raič, David (2002). Statehood and the Law of Self-Determination. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 350. ISBN 978-9-04111-890-5.
  5. ^ Sudetic, Chuck (2 April 1991). "Rebel Serbs Complicate Rift on Yugoslav Unity". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Bartrop, Paul R. (2012). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide: Portraits of Evil and Good. ABC-CLIO. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-31338-679-4.
  7. ^ "Milosevic: Important New Charges on Croatia". Human Rights Watch. 21 October 2001. Archived from the original on 25 December 2010.
  8. ^ Bassiouni, Mahmoud Cherif; Manikas, Peter (1996). The Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Transnational Publishers. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-57105-004-5.
  9. ^ Blank, Laurie R.; Noone, Gregory P. (2018). International Law and Armed Conflict: Fundamental Principles and Contemporary Challenges in the Law of War. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business. p. 517. ISBN 978-1-54380-122-4.
  10. ^ Clark, Janine Natalya (2014). International Trials and Reconciliation: Assessing the Impact of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Routledge. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-31797-474-1.
  11. ^ Razsa, Maple (2015). Bastards of Utopia: Living Radical Politics after Socialism. Indiana University Press. pp. 239–240. ISBN 978-0-25301-588-4.
  12. ^ a b c Bajto, Nikola; Opačić, Tamara; Jovanović, Nenad (15 October 2018). "Dossier: Zločini nad Srbima". Novosti.
  13. ^ "Gotovina - Indictment". ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 21 May 2001.
  14. ^ a b "Gotovina and Markac, IT-06-90-A" (PDF). ICTY.org. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 16 November 2012. pp. 30–34.