"Operation Storm not occasion for celebration"

"Operation Storm not occasion for celebration"

He added that the day that marks the anniversary of the expulsion of Serbs is "a difficult and sad day."

"We must think about these people, how to better integrate them, to provide them with their property rights, the (right to ) return to those who want it, and to ensure to those who have decided to settle here permanently that have more work and all that all other citizens of Serbia have,'' said the minister.

The service for the victims, held in a Belgrade church, was also attended by President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations Miodrag Linta, who asked "the international community" to prohibit Croatia from celebrating the military operation and the expulsion of Serbs, and to press the country to prosecute those responsible for in crimes against Serbs, resolve the issue of the missing, and reinstate Serbs with their rights, as well as provide conditions for sustainable return of refugees.

Linta noted in his address that more than half a million Serbs were driven out of their homes in Croatia during the war.

As he said, of this number, more than 300,000 currently live in Serbia, tens of thousands around the world, and only about 50,000, mostly elderly, have returned.

"The expelled Serbs and also Serb returnees are faced with many problems - the issues of missing persons and compensation for the victims have not been resolved, court proceedings take a long time and there are high court costs,'' said Linta, adding that Croatia does not have the political will to exhume the remains of Serbs located in known burial sites.

A particular problem, he said, is a large body of seized property, with 40,000 people having lost their property rights and 50,000 pensioners being owed pensions.

The service on Monday in Belgrade was led by Serbian Orthodox Bishop John Slavonski and attended also by a large number of citizens and Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Andreja Mladenović.

Afterwards, the participants placed wreaths a memorial dedicated to Serbs killed in the wars in the former Yugoslavia from 1990 until 2000.

19 years ago today Croatia launched its military and police operation against the country's Serb areas, and according to the Documentation Center Veritas 1,853 Serbs were either killed or are listed as missing, while at least 220,000 inhabitants of the former Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK) were expelled.

So far the remains of 875 victims have been exhumed from registered sites, while another 215 victims of Operation Storm are yet to be exhumed.

The massive military action of Croatian armed and police forces, with the support of NATO, as well as units of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) and the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina (ABiH), was carried out in the area of the RSK - northern Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun and Banija.

The aggression occurred despite the fact that this area was under UN protection and that representatives of the RSK in Geneva and Belgrade previously accepted a proposal of the international community about a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

According to Veritas 65 percent of all victims were civilians, of which about three-quarters older than 60 years.

According to the same source, of the total number of casualties so far has the fate of 951 people has been confirmed, while the records of missing persons still have 894 names listed, among them 632 civilians, of whom 315 women.

Operation Maestral which came as an extension of Operation Storm saw Croatian armed forces, in conjunction with the 5th Corps of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, kill 655 and expell some 125,000 Serb residents from the area of ​​13 municipalities in Bosnia.

The decision to launch the attacks came at the suggestion of then Croatian General Ante Gotovina, made during a meeting on the island of Brioni on July 31, 1995.

Then Croatia's President Franjo Tuđman at that time clearly defined the objective of the operation saying that it should deal "such blows that Serbs will to all intents and purposes disappear from these areas."

The Hague Tribunal for war crimes ruled in April 2011 in a first-instance verdict that Operation Storm was a joint criminal enterprise, led by Tuđman, whose goal was the forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population and the inhabiting of the area by Croats.

The tribunal then reached e second-instance verdict in November 2012 and acquitted the accused - Gotovina and another former Croatian general, Mladen Markač.

They were found not guilty of the persecution of the Serb population from the Knin Krajina in 1995. In the first-instance verdict Gotovina was sentenced to 24, and Markač to 18 years in prison.

The Appeals Chamber acquitted the defendants on all counts, although the crimes specified in the first instance ruling had not been negated.

Operation Storm is also the subject of another trial, before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where Croatia and Serbia are accusing each other of genocide.

In its countersuit, Serbia insists that of the wars fought in the territory of Croatia during the 1990s, only Operation Storm could be fully qualified as genocide as defined in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

In Croatia, August 5 is a national holiday that is celebrated as "Victory and National Thanksgiving Day" marking Operation Storm.