storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

war. But, it is certain that they cannot be justifi ed, regardless of their perpetrators, and that
truth and justice require the detection and punishment of all those who were personally
responsible for the crimes. Th is would give the victims at least some satisfaction, and
the punishment of the actual perpetrators would demonstrate that the crimes were
committed by individuals whose actions were in opposition to the action and conduct of
the overwhelming majority of Croatian commanders, soldiers and policemen, who took
honourable part in Operation Storm.
Th is is also in the interest of historical truth: it requires the fi nal and accurate
determination of the dishonourable deeds (murders of civilians and POWs, and torching
of homes) committed against the Serbian population in the area covered by Operation
Storm by members of the armed forces or civilians on the Croatian side, by members of
the Army of B&H, and by members of the Serbian military units or Serbian civilians. 10
10 Th e HHO book mainly mentions crimes against Serbian civilians committed by individuals on the Croatian
side or members of the Army of B&H. However, the reports of refugee Serbs also mention the tribulations of
Serbs and refugees of other ethnic groups due to the actions of the Serbian army, murders of Serbs by their
fellow-countrymen and suicides during withdrawal. Th us, a note in the HHO book also mentions people
killed because they did not want to join the refugee column: Our leadership informed the people about our
fl ight. People were made afraid of the Croatian army, and we had to fl ee. Th ose of us who did not want to
leave hid well, we did not want them to fi nd out that we were staying; otherwise, we would be forced to leave
or Serbs would have killed us... Th ey went from home to home and checked whether people were leaving...
(Statement by N. Drača, 23 July 1998; HHO, Th e Military Operation ‘Storm’ and Its Aft ermath; 14). Th ese
were not mere threats, as shown by the statement of M.P. (details in the HMDCDR); she said that «Martić’s
people killed her son because he refused to join the column» (HMDCDR, verbal testimony of O.N., details
in the HMDCDR). M.K. (details in the HMDCDR) stated as follows: We were in the basement of the building
in which Milan Babić, the dentist, had an apartment. Th e militia came and forced us to join the column
(HMDCDR, protocol 1396 of 18 September 1995). M.M. (details in the HMDCDR) stated: I was wounded
by a Serbian sniper. I came to save my son and we all wanted to come back (HMDCDR, protocol 1360 of
14 September 1995). M.J. (details in the HMDCDR) , a Croat from Gračac who had to leave his home and
was forced to join the column at gunpoint, stated that one of his neighbours was killed because she did not
want to join the column (HMDCDR, protocol 1269 of 1 September 1995).L.I. (details in the HMDCDR)
from Glina resisted when they tried to force him to join the column, and was beaten up by RSK soldiers
(HMDCDR, protocol 74 of 19 January 1996). D.Ć. (details in the HMDCDR) stated that he had joined the
column «because terror groups were left behind» (HMDCDR, protocol 247 of 12 March 1996). Th e daily
Delo (Ljubljana) reported on the fate of the Serbian refugees rocketed by the Serbian air force: HTTP://www.
hrt.hr/arhiv/oluja/950808/H/080895174801.html.
Some Serbs in the refugee columns were crushed by tanks, e.g., the man in the militia car ran over by in Knin
by an SVK tank before the arrival of Croatian troops... On the right side of the road (by the administration
of the diesel fuel storage facility) I found a militia car, a ‘stojadin’ (Zastava 101). Tracks showed that it had
been run over by a tank. It was quite fl attened, and a human leg protruded from it... I went on to Corps
Command... I saw a ‘lada’ with two dead men in camoufl age RSK Army uniforms, 25-30 years old... Th e
side of the car was riddled with bullet holes at chest level. Croatian troops had not yet entered the town, and
I don’t know how they died. Th ey must have been killed by a burst. (HHO, Th e Military Operation ‘Storm’
and Its Aft ermath, p. 27). Th ere is a well-known story about retreating Serbian tanks running over a column
of Serbian refugee vehicles in the region of Banovina. Th us, commenting on the «sad column of 32,000
refugees), the Zagreb reporter of Belgrade’s daily Večernje novosti, Milenko Predragović wrote: «According
to eyewitnesses, the said column was rolled over by tanks under the command of the Serbian General Mile
Novaković as he fl ed from Petrova Gora». Of course, he believed that Croatian media interpreted this version
in order to blame «the Serbian leadership for the fate of the Serbian refugees». He even suggested that
the column had been rolled over by «Serbian, but captured tanks» (Milenko Predragović, «Kolona izgažena
tenkovima» (Column Rolled over by Tanks; Večernje novosti, 14 August 1995). Th e construction is not true,
as confi rmed by recollections of Storm participants (HMDCDR, memoir material).
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