Ten years have passed since the armed operation named Storm by Croatian authorities took place. After Storm, the Croatian state has remained almost ethnically clean, having only a few percent of Serbian population. In barely four days, Storm entirely changed the ethnic picture in parts of Croatia that used to be significantly inhabited by Serbs. There is no doubt that during the operation and after it, numerous crimes have been committed toward the Serbian civilian population.Only in madness-ridden political statements of the politicians involved in wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and of their intellectual and media lieutenants , the so-called “protection and realization of national interests” justifies murder, mutilation, torture, rape, or ethnic cleansing. In every normal society, the majority of citizens and the intellectual elite (almost always unanimously), support and insist on the rule of law. Croatia, like Serbia and Montenegro, was bound to abide by international law during the conflict. It is entirely obvious today, as many of those who fought in the war have openly admitted, that this law was systematically violated.
The fate of people who were forced out of Croatia and who lost their family members has been tragic. Hostages of war propaganda and devoid of clear and responsible leadership, they lost almost everything. Today many of them are homeless and almost all of them refugees. They have become the victims of sordid schemes to exchange territories and population, and left to the mercy of war profiteers and pathological warmongers.
The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights invites all institutions, and especially Croatian judiciary, to initiate and efficiently prosecute and try those persons for whom there is reasonable suspicion of having committed crimes during the operation Storm, including military commanders who ordered or were aware of these crimes but tolerated them. This is the only efficient way to empower the refugees and make them believe that they can safely return to the places from which they were expelled. Likewise, this is the only way for Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro, and their citizens, to achieve their European future.
War crimes and crimes against humanity are not necessary parts of every armed conflict. Impunity for the crimes committed and praise of war criminals are even less so. Laws govern the conduct of war too. No excuses, including the need to repel aggression, can justify violations of humanitarian law.
