President to attend memorial service for Serb victims

Serbian President Boris Tadic says that on every August 4 Serbians mourn all innocent victims of Croatia's Operation Storm, "that must not be forgotten". “It is necessary to find out the fate of the missing Serbs and to solve problems that most of the families face when they return to Croatia,“ the Serbian president stressed. President to attend memorial service for Serb victims “Those problems are return of property rights, renovation of properties, overdue pensions, convalidation of years of service, as well as problems in the housing process, inability to buy apartments they were given and problems regarding citizenship and economic sustainability of the return,“ he said in an announcement. Tadic said it was only just that the war criminals responsible for the 1995 crimes were being tried in the Hague Tribunal, the Serbian president's press office said in a release. “The cooperation with The Hague has been a top priority and a moral obligation of all the countries of former Yugoslavia, the place of heavy armed conflicts in the 1990s,” the Serbian president stressed. He added that that on every August 4 Serbian citizens mourned and paid tribute to all innocent victims of crimes that must not be forgotten and announced that he would attend a memorial service for the victims of Operation Storm that will be served at St. Marko’s Church in downtown Belgrade. Boris Tadic (Beta, file) Josipovic praises operation On Tuesday in Zagreb, Tadic's Croatian counterpart said Operation Storm was “legal, legitimate, quick, efficient and brilliant, and for the most part in the spirit of the law of war”. He said that “due to small parts of the event that did not need to happen and should not have happened, point of the entire operation is being questioned, which is untrue from military, moral, political and every other aspect”. Josipovic received participants of the operation on the occasion of the Victory Day and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, that are celebrated on August 5, and pointed out that those “were the days of pride and glory that nobody can deny and question anymore”. “All of us in Croatia are deeply and truly sorry about every innocent victim, every unnecessary crime and every unnecessary destruction,” the Croatian president said and added that Croatia was, aside from its victory, also proud of it strength to face the unavoidable part of the story and punish those who were responsible. Croatian courts are yet to convict a single person for the war crimes committed during the military and police onslaught against the country's Serb areas, although the Croatian Helsinki Committee puts the number of vicitms at nearly 700 civilians, while Veritas and other NGOs in Serbia deal with much higher figures. Besides this, between 150,000 and 250,000 Serb civilians were driven from their homes, and a majority never returned. 20,000 houses were destroyed, valuable property stolen, while many homes have since been usurped.

President to attend memorial service for Serb victims

“Those problems are return of property rights, renovation of properties, overdue pensions, convalidation of years of service, as well as problems in the housing process, inability to buy apartments they were given and problems regarding citizenship and economic sustainability of the return,“ he said in an announcement.

Tadić said it was only just that the war criminals responsible for the 1995 crimes were being tried in the Hague Tribunal, the Serbian president's press office said in a release.

“The cooperation with The Hague has been a top priority and a moral obligation of all the countries of former Yugoslavia, the place of heavy armed conflicts in the 1990s,” the Serbian president stressed.

He added that that on every August 4 Serbian citizens mourned and paid tribute to all innocent victims of crimes that must not be forgotten and announced that he would attend a memorial service for the victims of Operation Storm that will be served at St. Marko’s Church in downtown Belgrade.

Josipović praises operation

On Tuesday in Zagreb, Tadić's Croatian counterpart said Operation Storm was “legal, legitimate, quick, efficient and brilliant, and for the most part in the spirit of the law of war”.

He said that “due to small parts of the event that did not need to happen and should not have happened, point of the entire operation is being questioned, which is untrue from military, moral, political and every other aspect”.

Josipović received participants of the operation on the occasion of the Victory Day and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, that are celebrated on August 5, and pointed out that those “were the days of pride and glory that nobody can deny and question anymore”.

“All of us in Croatia are deeply and truly sorry about every innocent victim, every unnecessary crime and every unnecessary destruction,” the Croatian president said and added that Croatia was, aside from its victory, also proud of it strength to face the unavoidable part of the story and punish those who were responsible.

Croatian courts are yet to convict a single person for the war crimes committed during the military and police onslaught against the country's Serb areas, although the Croatian Helsinki Committee puts the number of vicitms at nearly 700 civilians, while Veritas and other NGOs in Serbia deal with much higher figures.

Besides this, between 150,000 and 250,000 Serb civilians were driven from their homes, and a majority never returned.

20,000 houses were destroyed, valuable property stolen, while many homes have since been usurped.