In the autumn of 1991, in Gospić and surrounding areas, members of the Croatian Army and police, mostly masked, systematically abducted Serb civilians from their homes and apartments. The liquidations were carried out at multiple locations, primarily targeting prominent Serbs who had previously demonstrated loyalty to the newly established Croatian regime.
According to data from the “Veritas” Documentation and Information Center, at least 129 individuals of Serb ethnicity were killed during this campaign of terror, including 39 women. Nearly half of all liquidations were executed in a bloody three-day wave from October 16 to 18, 1991. The victims included ten married couples, as well as four pairs consisting of one parent and a child. To date, the mortal remains of 60 victims have been found, identified, and buried, while 69 bodies are still intensively being searched for.
The entire political, military, and police leadership of the Republic of Croatia was fully aware of the liquidations of Serb civilians. After JNA members discovered 24 charred corpses in the separation zone in late December 1991, the truth reached the international community through leading global media and humanitarian organizations. Under subsequent international pressure, the then President of the Republic of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, was forced to order an official investigation. However, despite collected evidence clearly pointing to the order-givers and direct perpetrators, the case was swiftly archived (ad acta), and the bodies of the victims were systematically moved from primary to secondary graves to conceal the traces of the crime.
Although the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY initially conducted an intensive investigation, the case was transferred to the Croatian judiciary before an indictment could be raised. In March 2001, the County State Attorney's Office in Rijeka filed an indictment against five members of the Croatian army and police for war crimes against the civilian population, charging them with the unlawful arrest and liquidation of at least 50 individuals.
By the final judgment of the County Court in Rijeka in March 2003, only three individuals were convicted: Tihomir Orešković, then secretary of the Operational Headquarters in Gospić, to 15 years in prison; Mirko Norac, then commander of the 118th Brigade of the Croatian Army, to 12 years in prison; and Stjepan Grandić, then commander of the Second Battalion, to 10 years in prison. By the same verdict, due to a lack of evidence, the court acquitted Norac, Orešković, and Ivica Rožić for the liquidation of three Serbs from Karlobag killed at the Crni Dabar site on Velebit, while the charges against Milan Čanić were rejected following the prosecutor's withdrawal.
Today, three and a half decades later, domestic and international organizations continuously raise the question of why only these five individuals were prosecuted. The court proceedings established beyond any doubt that dozens of members of the Croatian army and police participated in the planning, arrests, and executions. Many of them, responsible under command or individual liability, still undisturbed hold high positions in Croatian institutions, the military, and the police.
The families of the victims remain deeply embittered and distressed by the fact that all three convicted men have been free for years, while Croatian state institutions take no action to locate the remains of the remaining 69 missing Serbs.
The consequences of the wartime exodus and the systematic removal of the Serb population are best illustrated by official census data. According to the 1991 census, 9,025 inhabitants lived in the town of Gospić, among whom 36% were Serbs and 3% were Yugoslavs. According to the 2021 census, the wider area of the town of Gospić, which today includes 49 surrounding settlements, had a total of 11,502 residents, among whom only 412 (3.58%) were Serbs.
DIC “Veritas” appeals to the international public and competent institutions to exert pressure on the judiciary of the Republic of Croatia to finally apply the principle of universal justice, prosecute all responsible perpetrators, and end the agony of the families who have been waiting for 35 years for the right to a dignified remembrance and burial of their loved ones.
Belgrade/Banja Luka, September 16, 2026
Information Service of DIC “Veritas”
