Četvrtog avgusta 1995. godine oružane snage Republike Hrvatske, uz odobrenje i podršku NATO, u sadejstvu sa snagama Hrvatskog vijeća odbrane (HVO) i Armije BiH (ABiH), izvršile su agresiju na sjevernu Dalmaciju, Liku, Kordun i Baniju, odnosno na Srpsku autonomnu oblast Krajina, u sastavu tadašnje Republike Srpska Krajina (RSK).

Agresija je izvršena uprkos činjenicama da je ta oblast bila pod zaštitom UN-a, pod nazivom sektori “Jug” i “Sjever”, i da su predstavnici RSK dan prije u Ženevi i Beogradu prihvatili prijedlog međunarodne zajednice  o mirnom rješenju sukoba.

Protiv krajiških Srba (oko 230.000 žitelja sa oko 30.000 vojnika) angažovano je oko 200.000 vojnika, od kojih je direktno u operaciji učestvovalo 138.500 pripadnika HV-a, MUP-a  i HVO-a. Ako se tome dodaju snage ABiH i NATO, agresora je bilo više nego stanovnika u Krajini, a omjer vojnika bio je najmanje 7:1 u korist agresora.

Za nekoliko dana neravnopravne borbe slomljen je otpor Srpske vojske Krajine (SVK). Narod zapadne Krajine, njih preko 220.000, poučen “istorijskim iskustvom”, kreće u dotad najveću srpsku “seobu”, na istok braći po vjeri i naciji. I kad je prestao svaki otpor SVK, agresor je ubijao ljude koji nisu htjeli ili mogli sa svojih vjekovnih imanja, ali i one  u izbjegličkim kolonama, i do Une i preko Une, duboko u teritoriju tadašnje Republike Srpske.

Na evidenciji Veritasa nalaze se imena 1.853 poginulih i nestalih Srba iz ove akcije i poslije nje, od čega 1.202 (65%) civila, od kojih su oko tri četvrtine bili stariji od 60 godina. Među žrtvama se nalazi  545 (29%) žena, od kojih su oko četiri petine bile starije od 60 godina, što predstavlja jedan od “crnih” rekorda građanskog rata devedesetih prošlog vijeka  na prostorima prethodne Jugoslavije.

Od ukupnog broja žrtava do sada je rasvijetljena sudbina 1.002 lica, dok se na evidenciji nestalih vodi još  851 lice, od čega 614 civila, među kojima 310 žena. Hrvatska izbjegava bez valjanog razloga ekshumacije i poznatih mjesta ukopa sa oko 270 posmrtnih ostataka, pokopanih uglavnom pod oznakom “nepoznat”, što je jedinstven slučaj na području bivše Jugoslavije, kao što bez pravog razloga oteže i sa identifikacijama  294 ekshumiranih posmrtnih ostataka.

Oko 1.500 pripadnika SVK preživjelo je zarobljavanje, od kojih su mnogi suđeni i osuđeni na dugogodišnje kazne zatvora zbog krivičnog djela ratnog zločina. Oko 3.200 starih i nemoćnih, koji nisu htjeli ili nisu mogli napustiti ognjišta, na silu su internirani u logore za civile. Krajina je opustošena, opljačkana pa porušena i zapaljena. Nisu bili pošteđeni ni crkveni, kulturni, istorijski srpski, kao ni antifašistički spomenici.

Ova agresija, pod kodnim nazivom “Oluja”, sprovođena je, kao uostalom i one koje su joj prethodile (“Miljevački plato”, “Maslenica”, “Medački džep” i “Bljesak”), po taktici “spržene zemlje”, što je polovinom novembra 1995. godine doseglo razmjere potpunog zatiranja srpske zajednice u Krajini.

Iako je bilo očigledno da je hrvatska vlast preduzela ovu agresiju zbog optiranja teritorije bez srpske većine koja je na njemu živjela, Savjet bezbjednosti UN-a, osim “snažne osude hrvatske vojne ofanzive velikih razmjera” (R 1009/95), nije donio, ni ovoga puta, bilo kakve kaznene mjere protiv agresora.

Najveći paradoks ove agresije, kao i onih koje su joj prethodile, nalazi se u činjenici što je agresor bila članica UN-a, a Krajina zona pod zaštitom iste organizacije i što su neke druge članice te organizacije odobrile i učestvovale u samoj agresiji.

„Oluja“ je jedini događaj u kojima su Srbi iz Hrvatske žrtve, koji je suđen pred Međunarodnim krivičnim sudom za bivšu Jugoslaviju (MKSJ). Pretresno vijeće je jednoglasno zaključilo da su dvojica od trojice optuženih generala bili učesnici udruženog zločinačkog poduhvata, čija je zajednička svrha bila trajno uklanjanje srpskih civila iz Krajine silom ili prijetnjom silom, te ih osudilo: Antu Gotovinu na 24, a Mladena Markača na 18 godina zatvora.

Žalbeno vijeće je, tjesnom većinom, sa tri prema dva,  poništilo cijelu presudu Pretresnog vijeća i oslobodilo optužene generale po svim tačkama optužbe. Iako nije negiralo zločine utvrđene u prvostepenoj presudi, Žalbeno vijeće  nije našlo za shodno da optužene generale osudi ni po alternativnim vidovima odgovornosti.

Putem MKSJ ide i hrvatsko pravosuđe. Od nekoliko do sada procesuiranih pripadnika sopstvenih oružanih snaga za ratne zločine nad Srbima iz vremena “Oluje”, pravosnažno je osuđena samo jedna osoba (slučaj “Prukljan i Mandići”). U analima pravosudnog besčašća ostaće zapamćene oslobađajuće presude optuženima za zločine u Gošiću, Varivodama, Gruborima i Kijanima,  kao i dugogodišnja istraga bez pomaka  protiv NN lica za masakr hendikeparanih u Dvoru na Uni.

U direktnoj vezi sa operacijom “Oluja” je i parnični postupak pred  Federalnim sudom u Čikagu po tužbi krajiških Srba  protiv  konzultantske  firme MPRI, odnosno njene pravne sljednice,  podnesene  u avgustu 2010. godine, zbog naknade materijalne i nematerijalne štete u iznosu od 10,4 milijarde dolara,  po osnovu saučesništva u genocidu. Ovaj postupak je krajem prošle godine, uz pristanak obiju strana, ušao u fazu medijacije, koja će, kako se očekuje, trajati cijelu ovu godinu.

Međunarodni sud pravde (MSP) je kroz obrazloženje svoje presude iz februara ove godine operaciju “Oluja” kvalifikovao kao akciju etničkog čišćenja, koje nije doseglo nivo genocida – Hrvati su htjeli srpsku teritoriju bez Srba očekujući da oni sami odu, a ne da ih “unište u cjelosti ili djelimično”. A da bi ih natjerali da napuste svoja vjekovna ognjišta, granatirali su njihove gradove i izbjegličke kolone, ubijali i fizički i psihički zlostavljali zaostale civile i vojnike i sprečavali im povratak, ali ni to sve skupa, po ocjeni suda, nije doseglo nivo genocida (nedostaje “genocidna namjera”)

MSP je ovom presudom krajiškim Srbima  dao solidnu osnovu da pravnim putem nastave tražiti ostvarenje ostalih (sporednih) zahtjeva iz njihove kontratužbe: procesuiranje počinilaca svih ratnih zločina nad njihovim sunarodnicima, obeštećenje za uništenu imovinu i izgubljene živote, održivi povratak i puno poštivanje njihovih nacionalnih i ljudskih prava, uključujući i široku političku autonomiju kakvu im je međunarodna zajednica (UN, EU, SAD i RF), prije akcije “Oluja”, garantovala “Planom Z-4”.

I umjesto da Hrvatska, i bez naloga MSP, odustane od slavljenja “akcije etničkog čišćenja i masovnih zločina” kao dvostrukog državnog praznika (“Dan pobjede i domovinske zahvalnosti” i “Dan hrvatskih branitelja”) koji se predhodnih godina slavili 5. avgusta, ove godine dodala je i vojnu paradu u Zagrebu za dan ranije, kada je i počeo pogrom krajiških Srba.

Naravno, međunarodna zajednica, uključujući NATO i EU, koje su Hrvatsku u međuvremenu primili u članstvo, ćuti kao što je ćutala i prije 20 godina.

U Beogradu i Banjaluci, 4. avgusta, 2015. godine

P R E D S J E D N I K
Savo Štrbac

On August 4th, 1995, Croatian Armed Forces, with the approval and support from NATO, in cooperation with the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH), launched an aggression on northern Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun and Banija, that is, on the Serbian Autonomous Region of Krajina, in the then Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK).

The aggression was launched despite the fact that the area was under the protection of the UN, under the name Sectors “South” and “North”, and that the representatives of the RSK accepted the proposal of the international community on peaceful resolution of conflicts the day before in Geneva and Belgrade.

Approximately 200,000 troops were deployed against the Krajina Serbs (around 230,000 inhabitants with around 30,000 troops), of which 138,500 members of the Croatian Army, police forces and HVO were directly involved in the operation. If we add the forces of the ABiH and NATO to this, the aggressor was more numerous than the population of Krajina, and the ratio of troops was at least 7:1 in favour of the aggressor.

In several days of an unequal fight, the resistance of the Serbian Army of Krajina (SVK) was broken. The people of western Krajina, over 220,000 of them, having learned from “historical experience”, sets off on the greatest Serbian “migration” until then, to the East, to their brothers in faith and nation. And when all resistance of the SVK ceased, the aggressor killed people who would not or could not leave their ancestral homes, but also those people in the refugee convoys, to the Una and beyond the Una, deep into the territory of the then Republika Srpska.

In the records of Veritas, there are the names of 1,853 killed and missing Serbs from this operation and after it, of which 1,202 (65%) are civilians, of which about three quarters were older than 60 years of age. Among the victims, there are 545 (29%) women, of which about four fifths were older than 60 years of age, which represents one of the “black” records of the civil war of the 90s of the last century on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Of the total number of victims, the fates of 1,002 persons have been solved so far, while the registry of the missing still contains 851 persons, of which 614 civilians, including 310 women. Without a valid reason, Croatia avoids the exhumations of known burial sites with approximately 270 mortal remains, buried mostly under the designation “unknown”, which is a unique case in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, just as it stalls with the identification of 294 exhumed remains without a good reason.

About 1,500 members of the SVK survived imprisonment, of which many were tried and sentenced to long prison sentences for the criminal offense of war crime. About 3,200 of elderly and disabled, who would not or could not leave their homes, were interned in civilian camps. Krajina was ravaged, plundered, and then destroyed, and burnt down. Churches, cultural, and historical Serbian, as well as anti-fascist monuments were not spared either.

This aggression, under the code name “Storm”, was implemented, same as the ones that preceded it (“Miljevci Plateau”, “Maslenica”, “Medak Pocket” and “Flash”), by the “scorched earth” policy, reaching the proportions of complete extermination of the Serbian community in Krajina in mid-November 1995.

Although it was obvious that the Croatian Government had undertaken this aggression due to their opting for a territory free from the Serbian majority that had lived on it, the Security Council of the UN, other than “strong condemnation of the large-scale Croatian military offensive” (R 1009/95), once again did not impose any sanctions against the aggressor.

The greatest paradox of this aggression, as well as of those that preceded it, lies in the fact that the aggressor was a member of the UN and Krajina was an area under the protection of that same organization, and that other members of the organization approved and participated in the very aggression.

The “Storm” is the only event in which the Serbs from Croatia are the victims, that was tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Trial Chamber unanimously found that two of the three indicted generals participated in a joint criminal enterprise whose common purpose was the permanent removal of Serbian civilians from Krajina by force or threat of force, and sentenced them as follows: Ante Gotovina to 24, and Mladen Markac to 18 years in prison.

The Appeals Chamber overturned the entire judgement of the Trial Chamber and acquitted the accused generals on all counts, with a tight majority of three to two. Although it did not negate the crimes set out in the first instance, the Appeals Chamber did not see it fit to convict the accused generals even under alternative forms of accountability.

Croatian judiciary also follows in the ICTY’s footsteps. Of a few members of its own armed forces who have so far been prosecuted for war crimes against Serbs at the time of the “Storm”, only one person was convicted (the case “Prukljan and Mandici”). The acquittals for crimes in Gosic, Varivode, Grubori and Kijani, as well as the long investigation with no progress against unknown persons for the massacre of the disabled persons in Dvor na Uni will be remembered in the annals of judicial infamy.

Directly related to Operation “Storm” is a civil action before the Federal Court in Chicago upon a lawsuit of the Krajina Serbs against the consulting firm MPRI, that is, its legal successor, filed in August 2010, for the compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages in the amount of 10.4 billion dollars, on the basis of complicity in genocide. At the end of the last year, with the consent of both parties, this procedure entered the mediation stage, which is expected to last this entire year.

In the reasoning of their judgement from February this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) qualified Opertion “Storm” as an operation of ethnic cleansing, which did not reach the level of genocide – Croats wanted the Serbian territory free from Serbs, expecting them to leave on their own, and not wanting to “destroy them entirely or in part”. And in order to make them abandon their ancestral homes, they shelled their cities and refugee convoys, killed and abused the remaining civilians and solders, both physically and mentally, and prevented their return, but not even all this together, in the opinion of the Court, reached the level of genocide (it is missing “genocidal intent”).

With this judgement, the ICJ provided a solid base to the Krajina Serbs to continue to seek the realization of other (secondary) requests from their counterclaim by legal means: the prosecution of perpetrators of all war crimes against their compatriots, compensation for destroyed property and lost lives, sustainable return, and full respect of their national and human rights, including broad political  autonomy that the international community (UN, EU, USA and RF) guaranteed to them with the “Z-4 Plan”, before Operation “Storm”.

And in stead of Croatia desisting, even without an order from the ICJ, from the celebration of “actions of ethnic cleansing and mass crimes“ as a double national holiday (“Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day” and “Day of Croatian Defenders”), which in the previous years were celebrated on August 5th, this year it also added a military parade in Zagreb a day earlier, when the pogrom of the Krajina Serbs had began.

Of course, the international community, including NATO and EU, that granted membership to Croatia in the meantime, is silent, just like it was silent 20 years ago.

In Belgrade and Banja Luka, on August 4th, 2015.

P R E S I D E N T
Savo Strbac

Am 4. August 1995 begannen die kroatischen Streitkräfte, unter Zustimmung und Unterstützung der NATO, mit Hilfe von kroatischer Armee, Polizei und der Armee Bosnien-Herzegowinas (Armija BiH) die Aggression auf Nord-Dalmatien, Lika, Kordun und Banija, bzw. auf das Gebiet der damaligen Republik Serbische Krajine (RSK).

Die Aggression erfolgte trotz der Tatsachen, dass dieses Gebiet unter UN-Schutz stand, unter den Namen Sektor „Süd“ und „Nord“, und dass Vertreter der RSK einen Tag zuvor in Genf und Belgrad den Vorschlag der internationalen Gemeinschaft einer friedlichen Lösung des Konflikts akzeptiert hatten.

In der Operation “Oluja” waren 138.500 Soldaten der kroatischen Armee , Polizei und bosnischen Einheiten beteiligt.Gegen die Krajina Serben (ca. 230.000 Einwohner mit ca. 30.000 Soldaten) – somit war das Kräfteverhältnis: mehr Aggressoren als Bewohner in der Krajina. Das Verhältnis der Soldaten betrug 7:1 zugunsten der kroatischen Aggressoren.

In den Gebieten in den die kroatischen Offensive statt fand,hat fast jeder serbische Bewohner verlassen. Die Kolonne der Flüchtlinge auf Traktoren und anderen Landwirtschaftlichen Maschinen sind über das Gebiet der serbisch bosnischen Kontrolle unterstanden haben, West und Nord Bosnien nach Serbien geflohen . Die Regierung Serbiens hat die Kolonne der Flüchtlinge in das Zentrum des Inneres Serbiens geleitet mit eingeschlossen ins Kosovo . Die Militäraktion “Oluja” zur schlimmsten ethnischen Säuberung auf dem Gebiet des ehemaligen Jugoslawien.

Das Dokumentations-und Informationszentrum “Veritas” hat in seiner Datenbank 1.853 getötete und vermissten Serben von denen 1.202 (65%) Zivilisten sind, von denen Dreiviertel älter als 60 Jahre waren. Unter den Opfern sind 545 (29%) Frauen, von denen etwa Vierfünftel älter als 60 Jahre alt waren.

Von der gesamten Opferzahl sind bisher 1.002 Personenschicksale bekannt. Auf der Vermisstenliste werden noch immer 851 Personen geführt, davon 614 Zivilisten, untern ihnen 310 Frauen. Kroatien vermeidet ohne triftigen Grund die Exhumierung an bekannten Vergrabungsorten von etwa 270 menschlichen Überresten, begraben hauptsächlich unter der Kennzeichnung N.N. „Unbekannt“, was einmalig auf dem Gebiet des ehemaligen Jugoslawiens ist. Auch wird die Identifikation von 294 exhumierten menschlichen Überresten seitens Kroatiens unnötig in die Länge gezogen und somit verhindert.

„Oluja“ ist der einzige Fall, der vor dem Haager Kriegsverbrechtribunal (ICTY) landete, in dem Serben aus Kroatien die Opfer sind. In erster Instanz beschloss das Gericht einstimmig, dass zwei von drei angeklagten Generälen Täter waren im gemeinsamen verbrecherischen Unternehmen, dessen gemeinsamer Zweck die endgültige Säuberung serbischer Zivilisten aus der Krajina war mittels Gewalt oder Androhung von Gewalt. So wurde Ante Gotovina zu 24 und Mladen Markac zu 18 Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt.

In zweiter Instanz, mit knapper Mehrheit von drei zu zwei Gegenstimmen, wurde das erste Urteil aufgehoben und die angeklagten Generäle wurden in allen Punkten der Anklage freigesprochen. Auch wenn die festgestellten Verbrechen aus erster Instanz nicht negiert wurden, befand die zweite Instanz es nicht für nötig, die angeklagten Generäle der alternativen Verantwortung nach für schuldig zu befinden.

Den Weg des ICTY geht auch die kroatische Justiz: Von einigen bisher prozessuierten Angehörigen der kroatischen Streitkräfte wegen Kriegsverbrechen an Serben aus der Zeit der Aktion „Oluja“ wurde rechtskräftig eine Person verurteilt (im Fall „Prkuljan und Mandici“. In den Annalen der Justiz-Unehre wird es festgehalten sein, dass Freisprüche erfolgten für die Verbrechen in Gosic, Varivode, Grubori und Kijani, wie auch die langjährige Untersuchung ohne Ergebnisse gegen NN Personen (unbekannte Personen) für das Massaker von behinderten Personen in Dvor an der Una.

In direktem Zusammenhang mit der Aktion “Oluja” steht auch der Fall vor dem Föderalen Gericht in Chicago, in dem Krajina Serben Klage erhoben gegen die amerikanische Beratungsfirma MPRI im August 2010. Der Klage nach fordern sie Entschädigung für materiellen und nicht-materiellen Schaden in Höhe von 10,4 Milliarden Dollar aufgrund von Mittäterschaft im Genozid. Dieser Fall ist Ende letzten Jahres in gegenseitigem Einverständnis zum Mediatorenfall (aussergerichtliche Einigungsverhandlungen) geworden. Es wird erwartet, dass der Einigungsprozess das ganze Jahr 2015 dauern wird.

Das Haager Tribunal hat in der Begründung seines Urteils im Februar diesen Jahres die Aktion “Oluja” qualifiziert als Aktion der ethnischen Säuberung, die nicht das Niveau eines Genozids erreichte – die Kroaten wollten serbisches Territorium ohne Serben und erwartet von ihnen, dass sie von alleine weggehen und nicht dass sie sie „vernichten völlig oder teilweise“. Um sie (die Serben) zu zwingen, ihre jahrhunderte alten Heimstätten zu verlassen, granatierten sie (die Kroaten) ihre Städte und Flüchtlingskolonnen, töteten und maltretierten sowohl psychisch als auch physisch die verbliebenen Zivilisten und Soldaten und verhinderten ihre Rückkehr, aber all das zusammen, nach Meinung des Gerichtes, erreichte nicht das Genozid-Niveau (es gäbe keine „Absicht des Genozids“).

Das ICTY hat mit diesem Urteil den Krajina Serben eine solide Grundlage gegeben mittels Rechtswege andere (Neben-) Forderungen aus der Gegenklage zu verlagen: Prozessuierung der Täter aller Kriegsverbrechen an ihren Landsleuten, Entschädigung für vernichtetes Eigentum und verlorene Leben, wirksame Rückkehr und volle Achtung ihrer nationalen und Menschenrechte, eingeschlossen auch eine breite politische Autonomie, wie sie ihnen seitens der internationalen Gemeinschaft (UN, EU, USA und Russlands) vor der Aktion „Oluja“ garantiert wurde mit dem „Plan Z-4“.

Und anstatt dass Kroatien auch ohne Anweisung des ICTY Abstand nimmt von der Feier der „Aktion der ethnischen Säuberung und Massenverbrechen“ als doppeltem Staatsfeiertag („Tag des Sieges und der Dankbarkeit der Heimat“ und „Tag der kroatischen Verteidiger“), der die vorherigen Jahre am 5. August gefeiert wurde, wurde dieses Jahr auch eine Militärparade in Zagreb einen Tag zuvor hinzugefügt, am 4. August, an dem auch die Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Krajina Serben begann.

Natürlich schweigt die internationale Gemeinschaft, NATO und EU inbegriffen, die mittlerweile Kroatien als Mitglied aufgenommen haben, sie schweigen wie sie auch vor 20 Jahren geschwiegen haben.

Belgrad und Banja Luka, 4. August 2015

Präsident
Savo Štrbac