EVEN AFTER 34 YEARS, NO PROSECUTION OF THOSE WHO ORDERED EXECUTION OF GOSPIĆ SERBS

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 15 /SRNA/ – Thirty-four years ago, in the autumn of 1991, members of the Croatian Army and police carried out the liquidation of Serbs from Gospić, taking civilians from their homes and apartment, mostly wearing masks, and killing them in various ways and at multiple locations.

According to data from the Documentation and Information Center "Veritas", at least 129 people of Serb nationality were killed, including 39 women. Nearly half of the victims were executed between October 16 and 18. Among the victims were ten married couples and four entire families—father, mother, and child. So far, the remains of 60 victims have been found and buried, while searches continue for the others, "Veritas" stated. They emphasized that the entire political, military, and police leadership of the Croatian state was aware of the killings of Serb civilians. At the end of December that same year, members of the Yugoslav People’s Army /JNA/ found 24 charred bodies of Serb civilians in the separation zone between the warring sides, bringing the case to the attention of the international community through global media and humanitarian organizations. Under international "pressure", then-President of Croatia Franjo Tuđman ordered an investigation into the killings. Although the collected evidence clearly indicated those who gave and executed the orders, the case was soon shelved, and the victims’ bodies were moved from primary to secondary graves. Shortly after its establishment, the Office of the Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal conducted an intensive investigation into this case but eventually transferred it to the Croatian judiciary before an indictment was filed. In March 2001, the County Prosecutor’s Office in Rijeka indicted five members of the Croatian Army and police for war crimes against civilians, accusing them of unlawfully arresting and killing at least 50 people. By the final verdict of the Rijeka County Court in March 2003, Tihomir Orešković, then secretary of the Operational Headquarters in Gospić, was sentenced to 15 years in prison; Mirko Norac, then commander of the 118th Brigade of the Croatian Army, to 12 years; and Stjepan Grandić, then commander of the Second Battalion, to 10 years. The same court verdict acquitted Norac, Orešković, and Ivica Rožić due to lack of evidence for the killing of three Serbs from Karlobag, who were taken and executed on October 25, 1991, at the Crni Dabar site on Mount Velebit. Charges against Milan Čanić were dismissed. "Veritas" noted that international and domestic institutions and organizations continue to ask why other members of the Croatian Army and police—those who were proven "beyond any doubt" in that trial to have planned, arrested, and participated in the killings of Gospić Serbs, either by command or individual responsibility—have not been prosecuted. According to "Veritas", there are dozens of such individuals, some of whom still hold high positions in the Croatian army, police, and government—similar to other cases across the region. The families of the executed Serbs from Gospić are particularly distressed by the fact that all three convicted individuals have long been released, while no steps have been taken to locate the remains of the remaining 69 victims. According to the 1991 census, Gospić had 9,025 inhabitants, including 36 percent Serbs and 3 percent Yugoslavs. By the 2021 census, Gospić, which encompasses 49 settlements, had 11,502 residents, of whom only 412, or 3.58 percent, were Serbs.