Tanjug Bews Agency
September 9, 2008
Anniversary of Medak Pocket crimes
BELGRADE - Today marks the 15th anniversary of the
Croatian army operation to the south of Gospic in the
Medak Pocket.
88 Serbs — 46 soldiers, six policemen and 36
civilians, 26 over the age of 60 - were killed or went
missing during the operation. According to the Veritas
Center, they included 17 women.
On September 9, 1993, the Croatian army launched a
sudden attack on villages near Gospic that had been
under UN peacekeeping protection for the previous 18
months.
In May 2000, investigative teams found 11 bodies in
what was once the Serb part of Gospic, six of which
have been identified using DNA tests, the Veritas NGO
says.
Back in 1993, the Croatian army surrendered 52 bodies
to the Serbs, while UN peacekeepers later discovered
18 more bodies.
12 people are still listed as missing.
The Hague Tribunal indicted three Croatian Army
generals — Janko Bobetko, Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac
— who were charged with crimes against humanity and
breaches of the customs of war.
The indictment stated that the Croatian Army, under
their control during the Medak Pocket offensive,
“completely destroyed the village, depriving the Serb
civilian population of its houses and homes.”
The trial was referred by the Hague Tribunal to the
Croatian courts in September 2005, and Ademi and Norac
were indicted by the Croatian authorities on November
22, 2006. Bobetko, meanwhile, died at the age of 84
before the Croatian government could decide whether to
extradite him to the Hague.
According to the indictment, Ademi, “as a high ranking
official of the Croatian Army (HV)” and Norac “as an
HV colonel” in a unit specially formed for the
purposes of the 1993 Medak Pocket operation, were
accused of crimes against humanity and international
law.
They were charged with two specific criminal acts: war
crimes against the civilian population and
prisoners-of- war.
In June 2007, the Zagreb District Court launched
proceedings against the two which ended on May 31,
2008, with the delivery of the first-instance
verdicts.
During the one-year trial, around a hundred witnesses
were questioned and a great deal of material evidence
was brought before the court.
The court ruled that war crimes against Serb civilians
had occurred in the Medak Pocket.
Ademi was cleared of all charges, while Norac was
sentenced to 7 years in prison.
The verdict provoked considerable controversy, with
some organizations claiming that Croatia was still not
prepared to face up to the darker side of its recent
history.
The Veritas Documentation Center stated that these
verdicts would deter persecuted Serbs from returning
to the still deserted villages of Divoselo, Citluk and
Pocitelj in the Medak Pocket region.