REPORT ON CRIMES DURING OPERATION "STORM"

Report of the monitors of European Union on violations of human rights of the Serbs during and after operation "Storm"

AIM, Zagreb, October 14, 1995 According to the Agreement signed between Hrvoje Sarinic and the already former Ghali's envoy Yasushi Akashi on August 6 this year, UNCRO is finally permitted to supervise human rights in the region of former "Krajina", which also enabled the European Community Monitoring Mission (ECMM) to play the role contained in its name, namely, monitoring, but this time of actions of civilian and military authorities of the state of Croatia in relation to the few Serbs as well. In that sense they remade their program and got new instructions which enabled them to gain access to all parts of the former para-state in order to protect the people, monitor the situation concerning the remaining human rights and the behavior of the Croat Army. The team of the ECMM was around here before, during and after operation "Storm", so their report is quite reliable due to their knowledge of the people and the environment.

The text of the report is divided into eight sections most of which speak about the dark side of human beings - killing, maltreatment, robbery and arson. The so-called Chronology of Violations of Human Rights in the former Sectors North and South is added to the report and it quite minutely states sites of crimes and robberies, names or describes victims and registers witnesses. Here is first sections of the Report.

Under the subtitle "Killings" it is stated that they occurred during combats with no military justification". The mission witnessed "shelling of the convoy of refugees near Glina in an earlier period (during the three-day war during the summer), but back on August 27, a large quantity of personal belongings from the refugee convoy scattered by both sides of the road between Glinba and Dvor could be seen (...) The Croat police was on the point of collecting refuse and cleaning up the area (...)".

In the second section of the text under the quoted subtitle, members of the mission describe dead bodies they have seen and examined, and concerning which they concluded that death was not caused by war actions. It is, thus, quoted that on August 11, they found a body of an old man killed by a shot in the head in the village called Golubic. The team is convinced that this murder was a part of the post-war "cleansing" of the territory.

Among other, "(...) on September 11, the ECMM from Knin found two elderly women who had not long before that been killed with shots in their heade, and on September 12, the team was informed that the body of a Serb was found who had been maltreated by Croat soldiers: he was also killed. The reports on killings were numerous especially from the region of Knin, where the rate of the killed Serbs amounted to six deaths a day. The most common way of killing was a shot in the back of the head or a cut throat (...)".

In order to establish what was happening and what is still happening, it is necessary to have access to the region which is sometimes very difficult to get, at least for the journalists and the members of the European mission. The monitors themselves say that there are wide-spread signs that killings took place, but that it is sometimes impossible to check. For example, in the middle of August, in Knin, they tried "to investigate the frequent rumours that the Croat Army was burning corpses in the church (...)".

One should not even imagine that they had succeeded because "(...) numerous security officers did not allow them access (...)", but they did see that "a machine - digger, was digging inside the cemetery". They also saw medical staff, two ambulances and a medium refragerator truck. ECMM visited also the mass graveyard in Gracac. There they counted 71 grave out of which only ten bore inscriptions with names of those who were in them. The others were marked by numbers only. The team from Europe reached the conclusion that there were still many Serbs whose destiny was a mistery and that names of those who had disappeared were still being collected.

Under the subtitle "Maltreatment" various impressions concerning this topic were stated. In short, this is what this section says. All the people who have remained, and there are not very many of them, are afraid of the soldiers of the Croat Army and wish to leave to Serbia as soon as they get an opportunity. Most of them have experienced abuses and are too old to wait for another such experience. For instance, an elderly woman who is 81 years old was taken in front of a wall and they feigned her shooting. Namely, the soldiers shot close to her head. There were morbidly curious reasons for beating up victims, when soldiers beat a citizen of a village near Knin twice, the second time just because he showed them his certificate on Croat citizenship. "Many stories about maltreatment and beating up cannot be verified by being a witness to them, but they are certified by observing scars and wounds which have appeared as the result, so they are completely beyond any doubt".

The topic titled "Robberies", monitors of the European Union conclude with the observation that "it is difficult to distinguish robberies from arson, because these two thing usually happened simultaneously (...) But during and after operation "Storm", the rule "take whatever you can" was valid in the entire region with the consent (although not open) of the top authorities in Croatia. We have noticed a certain kind of selectivity, as objects of minor value were left behind in many places (...) Units of the Croat Army, individuals and civilians committed most of the incidents (...) In some cases, the Fifth Corps of the Army of B&H was also involved".

As concerning arson, according to what the members of the mission say, it still continues, so they assess that "(...) a large scope of non-Croat property (...) was not destroyed only by bands of robbers that operated in the area, but that it was tolerated by Croat authorities". Having singled out facts, they conclude in their report that the result of these crimes will be "an efficient prevention of the return of the Serbs to their homes, but that it would also be hard for the population in general to come back and live in the region again".

The report also states that destruction was much more thorough in the former Sector South than in Sector North, and that, for example, Kistanje was completely destroyed. In other towns and villages, only some of the property was burnt, showing that it was known who had lived where. Some large towns such as Knin, Benkovac, Obrovac and Drnis (...) were spared and are used to be exhibited".

In a dry listing of facts, those who have written the report also eased their minds in literary psychological explanations of our Balkan customs and archetypes - in something like a guide through the Balkan soul. For example, it is written that "(...) the principle in the background of such senseless arson is linked to a cultural trait". It is added that here "(...) family house is more than anything else a symbol of ownership". Burning the enemy's house is the ultimate insult, so the wish to destroy is combined with the wish to keep the owner at a distance for good" - Europeans assess, playing analysts of our collective consciousness. What they could not understand when they came into contact with fire is the question why it was dangerous for the civilian police to try to prevent such things, and why the firemen were threatened with death "when they tried to put out the fire in some of the houses which were burning".

In the section devoted to "Owning property", the official stance of Croatia that the Serbs are welcome to return is analysed. According to the monitors, it is difficult to conclude and difficult to carry out for at least two reasons. First, physically due to arson, and secondly, which is stressed as a more subtle reason, due to legal obstacles. Namely, pursuant to the Law of the Republic of Croatia (Articles 3 and 48 of the Constitution) "the Serbs who have fled will not lose their property rights. This could happen only through expropriation within precisely defined limits, with compensations in accordance with market value (Article 50 of the Constitution) (...) But, it seems that Croatia wishes to see to it that the Serbs do not return. Reports speak of adoption of a new law which enables Croatian Government to supervise property of the Serbs, if the Serb owner does not show up by September 30 at the latest (the time limit was in the meantime moved for another month) with evidence that he was born in Croatia and that he has a document proving that his property was duly registered. The clutch lies in the question how will refugees in Serbia ever learn about this change in legislature, how they will enter Croatia (...)".

After assessing arguments pro et contra their conclusion, Monitors of the European Union say that "(...) developments in the course of five weeks after operation "Storm" imply that the first objective of Croatia was reestablishment of its territorial integrity (...) while the second achivement of the operaction was disappearance of a numerous and unwanted minority (...) The few Serbs who have remained (...) were exposed deliberately to hostile policy which consisted of killing, arson, robbing and different legal obstacles".

Apart from having checked their allegations well, the monitors suggest in the end that "(...) the official Croat statements calling the Serbs to remain or return must be observed as being in complete discord with reality".

ALEN ANIC