Under the title “Storm is a pogrom – we remember it forever”, Republika Srpska and Serbia are marking 30 years since the Serbs were killed in this action by the Croatian army and police in Sremski Karlovci.
The Serbian Patriarch Porfirije will serve as a memorial service for the victims, and the highest officials of Serbia and Republika Srpska are present.
The commemoration is attended by the presidents of Republika Srpska and Serbia, Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vučić, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željka Cvijanović, the speakers of the parliaments Nenad Stevandić and Ana Brnabić, the Prime Ministers of Republika Srpska and Serbia, Đuro Macut, and ministers in both governments.
Also present are the presidents of the Democratic People’s Party from Montenegro, Milan Knežević, the Democratic Party of Serbs in North Macedonia and the Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Stoilković, the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Serbia, Isak Asiel, representatives of the Serbian Army, as well as numerous Krajišniks.
In Operation Storm in August 1995, more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled, and around 2,000 of them died or went missing, according to Veritas.
In its first-instance verdict against Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia characterized Operation Storm as a joint criminal enterprise, with the aim of permanently and forcibly expelling the majority of Serbs from the then Republic of Serbian Krajina.
However, in the second-instance verdict, such claims were rejected and the Croatian generals were acquitted of all charges, with the statement that serious crimes against Serbs were committed in Krajina.
In February 2015, the International Court of Justice dismissed mutual claims for genocide between Croatia and Serbia, finding that crimes that could constitute genocide occurred during and after Operation Storm, but that “specific genocidal intent had not been proven.”
In Croatia, August 5 is celebrated as Victory and Homeland Gratitude Day, while in Serbia and Republika Srpska, August 4 is a day of mourning and remembrance for the exiled and murdered Serbs.
Since 2014, the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska have jointly commemorated all the Serbs who died and were exiled in the armed operation “Storm”.
