DRINIC, August 7 /SRNA/ – The Documentation and Information Centre Veritas and its partner law firms in Croatia and Republika Srpska have launched the issue of prosecuting the persons responsible for war crimes against Serbs on the Petrovac road, in Svodna near Novi Grad, on the Glina-Dvor road and at Medja, Veritas director Savo Strbac told Srna on Tuesday.
“Once we receive replies from Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding our request for the prosecution of such crimes, we will file applications on behalf of the killed people’s families against Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the compensation of damage to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg,” said Strbac, who attended an event on the Petrovac road on Tuesday marking the 23rd anniversary of the exodus of Serbs during the Croatian military and police operation Storm.
He elaborated that in the procedure, Veritas will use an opportunity provided for by the European Convention on Human Rights and that is that in case of an inefficient investigation in a country where the crimes were committed, one can take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
According to Strbac, it is depressing that 23 years have passed and that no one has yet been prosecuted for those crimes even though the BiH Prosecutor’s Office has conducted an investigation for years.
“We are aware that Croatia and BiH are protecting each other on the basis of the Split Agreement which was signed by Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic in 1995, as they fought together against, as they say, ‘the Serb aggressor,’” said Strbac.
A commemoration to the fallen people of Krajina was conducted by Bishop Sergije of Bihac and Petrovac near a memorial cross on the Petrovac road in the village of Janjila outside Bosanski Petrovac, where the Bishop suggested building a church near the cross to make the site a place of pilgrimage.
Wreaths to the cross were laid by delegations of Veritas, Drinic veterans association, municipalities of Drinic and Donji Lapac, Bosanski Petrovac, Serb National Council from Zagreb, victims’ families and members of the association Protiv zaborava /Against Oblivion/.
After the commemoration, the Veritas delegation visited a memorial room in Drinic and attended a reception with Mayor Mirko Grbic.
On August 7, 1995 a Croatian aircraft MiG-21 bombarded a convoy of Serb refugees from the Republic of Serbian Krajina on the Petrovac road between Bosanski Petrovac and Kljuc, killing 10 civilians, including four children and a 21-year-old girl, and injuring around 50 others.
No one has been brought to justice for this crime.
According to the data provided by the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees, the aftermath of the Croatian Operation Storm was 250,000 Krajina Serbs expelled, 1,856 killed and 836 missing.
The operation began on August 4, 1995 with an offensive on Banija, Lika, Kordun and northern Dalmatia.
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