SNV Bulletin #6 Govor mržnje i nasilje prema Srbima u 2015

Hate Speech and Violence Against Serbs in 2015
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with the pro-Ustasha 8 HČSP party. 9 The Social Democratic Party
led by Zoran Milanović declined to take a public stand on number
of world-view issues and on several occasions failed to condemn
acts that had aimed to rehabilitate the NDH. Counting on a
possible post-election coalition, the SDP leaders, just like their
counterparts from HDZ, refused to comment on a series of acts by
the HDSSB 10 , a party led by war criminal Branimir Glavaš. 11
During the campaign, several minor right-wing parties attempted
to win parliamentary seats solely on the back of an anti-Serb
campaign. In 2015, Croatia celebrated the 20 th anniversary of
operations Flash and Storm, military and police actions during
which over 1,000 Serbs were killed. On that occasion the state
leadership did not express regret about civilian victims and
about the persecution and expulsion of the Serb population
from Croatia in 1995. After a parade of military might in Zagreb,
on the very day of the anniversary (August 5), a celebration of
Operation Storm was also held in Knin. It ended with a concert
by Marko Perković Thompson amid shouts “Kill the Serb”. The
past year will also be remembered by several Constitutional
Court rulings, including the annulment of the prison sentence for
Branimir Glavaš for crimes committed against Serb civilians in
Osijek in 1991.
8 Ustasha, military units and
soldiers of the Independent
State of Croatia
9 Hrvatska čista stranka
prava (Croatian Pure Party of
Rights), nationalist party of
the extreme right
10 HDSSB, Hrvatski
demokratski savez Slavonije i
Baranje (Croatian Democratic
Alliance of Slavonia and
Baranja) – regional militant
and nationalist party
11 Branimir Glavaš, politician
of the extreme right who
has been convicted for war
crimes against Serb civilians
in Osijek in 1991
Mentioned events are only a portion of those that influenced creation
of an anti-minority atmosphere, i.e. they represent a continuation
of a trend noted over the past several years. This trend
is supported by the Ministry of Interior (MUP) data. According to
this data, number of criminal acts motivated by ethnic hatred has
been on the constant rise. Thus in 2014, eight such cases were
registered of which three were related to Serbs. In 2015, sixteen
such (ethnically motivated) crimes were recorded of which fourteen
were motivated by hatred against Serbs.
Overview and Data Analysis for 2015
The Bulletin before you brings an overview of the incidents of
ethnically-motivated violence, threats and hate speech against
Serbs in Croatia in the previous year. The data has been collected
by the Serb National Council (SNV) and the SDSS caucus in the
Croatian Parliament. A total of 189 such cases were registered
in 2015, a significant increase in comparison with the previous
year when 82 cases were registered. Along with conditions in the
whole society, such a big increase partly stemmed from a change