28 YEARS LATER, CASE RELATING TO MASS GRAVE IN MRKONJIĆ GRAD STILL IN INVESTIGATION PHASE

SARAJEVO, APRIL 2 /SRNA/ - 28 years later, the case related to the mass grave in Mrkonjić Grad, from which the remains of 181 Serb soldiers and civilians, who were killed during an attack by the Croatian army, the so-called BiH Army and HVO in 1995, were exhumed, is still in the investigation phase before the BiH judiciary, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH told SRNA.

This case is being processed in the War Crimes Department of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, this institution stated. "The case is in the phase of active investigation thus we are not entitled to provide more information or details at this time," reads a reply to SRNA to the question about the Prosecutor's Office’s activities related to the mass grave in Mrkonjić Grad where the remains of 181 Serbs were found. In September and October 1995, the combined forces of the Croatian Army, HVO and the so-called Army of BiH, supported by NATO, attacked 13 Western Krajina municipalities killing 2,014 Serb soldiers and civilians, forcing 120,000 Serbs to leave their centuries old homes, looting movable and destroying immovable property. 753 of the 2,014 killed, were civilians, 14 of whom were children and 240 were women. Croatian and Muslim forces then occupied Ripač, Petrovac, Drvar, Grahovo, Glamoč, Ključ, Sanski Most, Mrkonjić Grad, Šipovo, Srbobran, Jajce, Kupres and Krupa na Una and leaving desolation and mass graves behand. Only in the area of Mrkonjić Grad municipality, 1,608 houses and 700 apartments were destroyed, war damage was estimated at BAM 680 million. After Republika Srpska retook the territory of Mrkonjić Grad municipality, the largest mass grave with 181 bodies of brutally murdered Serbs was found in the Orthodox cemetery. Among the victims were 81 civilians, 10 of whom were women, 97 soldiers of the Republika Srpska Army and three members of the Ministry of Interior; another 176 bodies were found in smaller graves in the territory of this municipality. The opening of the mass grave and exhumation began on April 1, 1996.