Thirty-three years have passed since the sudden attack by the Croatian Army on the Serb sub-Velebit villages of Divoselo, Čitluk, and Počitelj, which were under UN protection. By applying the “scorched earth” tactic, the villages were systematically destroyed, and 87 Serbs were brutally liquidated (including 35 civilians), while only symbolic sentences were handed down for these crimes, and no one was held accountable for the deaths of women burned in their homes. Today, this region has experienced a complete demographic collapse: before the war, 780 inhabitants lived here, whereas today nobody lives in Divoselo, two elderly women live in Počitelj, and only ten inhabitants remain in Čitluk.
However, the tragic fate of the sub-Velebit villages received its horrific and shameful continuation in peacetime. The demographic vacuum, desolation, and absence of people—which are a direct consequence of the ethnic cleansing from 1993—were exploited by unscrupulous profit-driven structures and corrupt individuals as a “perfect clean slate” to carry out an unprecedented ecological crime.
The recent official discovery by USKOK and the expert findings of the Water Institute confirmed the existence of an illegal dumping ground containing tens of thousands of tons of hazardous, illegally imported waste on land plots within the deserted village of Divoselo itself. The groundwater of this sensitive karst area, which flows towards the Lika River, has been directly contaminated with microplastics, Teflon, and extremely dangerous, forever PFAS chemicals.
The historical and human paradox is complete and terrifying: an area from which the Serb population was expelled and killed more than three decades ago under the pretext of establishing the constitutional and legal order, has today, in peacetime, been turned into a landfill for European and domestic hazardous waste. Where there are no living people to raise their voices, thousands of tons of poison have been buried, permanently destroying the very nature of Lika.
“Veritas” emphasizes that the burying of hazardous waste in Divoselo represents the final act of destruction of this region. First, the people who had preserved Velebit and Lika for centuries were destroyed, and then, in the absence of witnesses, the land itself was poisoned. This ecological disaster is a direct consequence of the war and the conscious neglect of this area, proving that a crime against a region does not end merely with the expulsion of its people, but continues with the permanent killing of their ancestral land.
We call upon the public, environmental associations, and international institutions not to turn a blind eye to this peacetime tragedy. The remediation of the contaminated land in Divoselo is not only an environmental issue, but also a matter of elementary respect for the victims who suffered on that land.
Belgrade/Banja Luka, September 9, 2026
Information Service of DIC “Veritas”
