The Day of Remembrance of all Serbs who died and were exiled in the action of the Croatian army “Storm” in August 1995 will be marked today in Mrkonjić City.
The commemoration will be attended by high-ranking officials of Serbia and Republika Srpska, including the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
In the operation “Storm” in August 1995, more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled, and about 2,000 of them died and disappeared, according to Veritas.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in its first-instance verdict against Croatian generals Anta Gotovina and Mladen Markač, characterized Oluj as a joint criminal enterprise, with the aim of permanently and forcibly expelling the majority of Serbs from the then Republika Srpska Krajina.
However, in the second-instance verdict, such claims were rejected and the Croatian generals were acquitted of all charges, with allegations that serious crimes against Serbs were committed in Krajina.
The tribunal established that the Croatian army and special police committed a large number of crimes against the Serbian population, primarily after armed attacks, but that the state and military leadership of Croatia bear no responsibility for this.
In February 2015, the International Court of Justice rejected the mutual claims of genocide by Croatia and Serbia, finding that during and after the “Storm” crimes occurred that could be elements of genocide, but that “specific genocidal intent was not proven.”
In Croatia, August 5 is celebrated as the Day of Victory and Homeland Gratitude, while in Serbia and the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity Republika Srpska, August 4 is the Day of Mourning and Remembrance of the Exiled and Murdered Serbs.
Since 2014, the Republic of Serbia and the Republika Srpska have jointly commemorated the martyred and exiled Serbs in the “Storm” action.
