On August 25, 1995, members of the Croatian Special Police from the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATJ) Lučko, during a “terrain clearing” operation along the Zagreb – Knin – Split railway line—which was scheduled to be used the following day by the “Freedom Train” carrying President Franjo Tuđman—entered the village of Plavno near Knin and killed six residents in the hamlet of Grubori, executing everyone they found.
In this brutal pogrom, the following individuals were savagely murdered: Jovan Grubor “Damušić” (73), who was burned alive along with his house; Jovo Grubor (65), whose throat was slit in a meadow next to his cows; his mother Marija Grubor (90), who was killed and then burned together with her house; Miloš Grubor (80), who was shot in his bedroom while in his pajamas with two bullets to the head; and Đuro Karanović (45) and Milica Grubor (51), both of whom were killed with firearms in a meadow, with their faces brutally mutilated.
On the same day in Grubori, 21 houses, all haystacks, and all barns were completely burned down, while the livestock inside them were either burned alive or slaughtered with firearms across the fields.
Until August 4, 1995, 24 families lived in the hamlet of Grubori across as many properties, numbering about 70 souls. Ahead of the Croatian military operation “Storm” (Oluja), the majority of the population fled in an exodus, leaving behind only thirteen residents, mostly elderly, who did not want to or could not leave their hearths. On that fateful August 25, seven of these residents went to the center of the village to register with UNPROFOR, an action that ultimately saved their lives.
Following the crime, when the UN “protection forces” requested information from the competent Croatian authorities regarding the events in Grubori, they were falsely informed that an armed conflict had occurred in the area between the special police and “remaining Chetnik bands,” during which one special forces officer was killed, despite the fact that no one had fired a single bullet at them. To support this claim and cover up the crime, false reports were subsequently written by the direct participants and sent to higher commands. However, the cover-up plans were disrupted by a UN TV crew that happened to be in the village that day for a previously scheduled meeting with the villagers; they filmed the scenes of the crime and the burning houses, footage which continues to circulate worldwide to this day. In August 1995, in the entire village of Plavno, including the six individuals from Grubori, a total of 31 residents of Serb nationality were killed, with an average age of over 70 years, among whom were nine women.
For the crime in Grubori, a total of eight members of the Croatian military and police have been prosecuted to date (three before the ICTY and five before Croatian courts). Despite an abundance of material and personal evidence regarding the specific unit that committed the massacre and the clear chain of command, all of them were legally and permanently acquitted due to an alleged “lack of evidence.”
The consequences of this crime and the accompanying impunity are catastrophic for the demographic landscape of this region. According to the 1991 census, 1.729 residents lived in Plavno, among whom 1.708 (99.30%) were Serbs. By the 2011 census, that number dropped to 253, while according to the 2021 census, only 121 residents remained in the village (of whom only five are younger than 20, while 72 are older than 60), without any indication of national composition.
Today, no one lives permanently in the hamlet of Grubori. This place has become a monument to an unpunished crime and the total eradication of life within a community.
Information Service of the DIC “Veritas”
