Sijekovac killings: Difference between revisions
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←Replaced content with ' == References == {{reflist}} {{Bosnian War}} {{coord|45|7|0|N|17|58|42|E|display=title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2010}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sijekovac Ki...' |
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The Serb authorities at the time immediately claimed that Serb civilians were massacred in Sijekovac.<ref name="ttwk">{{cite book |
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| title = This Time We Knew. Western Responses to Genocide in Bosnia |
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| last1 = Cushman |
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| first1 = Thomas |
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| last2 = Meštrović |
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| first2 = Stjepan Gabriel |
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| page = 98 |
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| publisher = New York University Press |
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| year = 1996 |
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| isbn = 0-8147-1535-4 |
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}}</ref> According to a 1993 report by [[Helsinki Watch]], there was no evidence of the use of excessive force.<ref name="hw-1993">{{cite book |
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| publisher = [[Helsinki Watch]] |
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| last = Nizich |
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| first = Ivana |
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| page = 45 |
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| title = War crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina |
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| year = 1993 |
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| isbn = 1-56432-083-9 |
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}} |
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</ref> The report was based on interviews with some twenty Serb villagers that had fled the area, who said that those killed were armed combatants engaged in hostilities, or civilians caught in the [[crossfire]].<ref name="ttwk"/> Under [[international law]], deaths under crossfire cannot be considered as [[genocide]].<ref name="hw-1993"/> |
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The authorities of [[Republika Srpska]] marked the site with a monument listing 47 casualties.<ref name="slobodna-2010">{{cite news |
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| url = http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/Spektar/tabid/94/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/104161/Default.aspx |
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| language = Croatian |
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| title = Posavljaci Josipoviću - Ne idite u Bosansku Posavinu, Dodik će vas prevariti |
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| newspaper = [[Slobodna Dalmacija]] |
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| date = 2010-05-29 |
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| accessdate = 2010-06-02 |
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}}</ref> |
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Among those publicly implicated by the Serbian side are the 108th brigade of [[Croatian National Guard]] (by then renamed into the [[Croatian Army]]),<ref name="nn-2007">{{cite news |
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| url = http://www.nezavisne.com/vijesti.php?vijest=7141&meni=2 |
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| title = Poziv zvaničnicima na pomen za 60 ubijenih Srba u Sijekovcu |
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| newspaper = [[Nezavisne novine]] |
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| date = 2007-03-13 |
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}}</ref><ref name="novilist-2010"/> the Intervention Squad of the [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]<ref name="novilist-2010"/> and the [[Croatian Defence Forces]].<ref name="novilist-2010"/> |
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In 2002, during the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]] [[Prijedor massacre]] Trial against [[Milomir Stakić]], former leader of the Bosnian Serbs in [[Prijedor]], the Defence called a survivor of the alleged massacre in Sijekovac in order to support a claim that the [[Bosnian War|war in Bosnia and Hercegovina]] was caused not by the Serbs, but by incursions into Bosnian territory by the Croatian army to the north of [[Bosanski Šamac]].<ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://secnet069.un.org/x/cases/stakic/trans/en/020514IT.htm |
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| title = Testimony of one Nijaz Kapetanović |
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| work = Case Number IT-97-24-T, the Prosecutor versus Milomir Stakic |
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| page = 2976 |
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| quote = Q. [...] Have you ever heard of massacres at Sijekovac and Kupres which occurred in the month of March 1992? A. As far as I heard, yes. [...] |
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| publisher = [[United Nations|UN]] [[ICTY]] |
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| date = 2002-05-14 |
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| accessdate = 2010-06-02 |
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}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://www.iwpr.net/index.php?apc_state=hen&s=o&o=p=tri&l=EN&s=f&o=163512 |
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| title = Courtside: Prijedor Genocide Trial |
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| publisher = [[Institute for War and Peace Reporting]] |
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| date = 29 April 2005 |
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}} |
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</ref><ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://www.icty.org/x/cases/stakic/trans/en/021118ed2.htm |
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| title = Open session |
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| work = Case Number IT-97-24-T, the Prosecutor versus Milomir Stakic |
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| page = 9086 |
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| quote = [Defence attorney] Mr. Lukić: [Interpretation] Therefore, the incursion of the regular Croatian forces into the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina occurred on the 3rd of May, 1992. After that, on the 26th of March, there was the massacre of Serb civilians in the village of Sijekovac in Bosanski Brod Municipality which was also covered in all the media, and members of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina went to the scene. [...] |
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| publisher = [[United Nations|UN]] [[ICTY]] |
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| date = 2002-11-18 |
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| accessdate = 2010-02-06 |
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}}</ref> |
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In 2004, Federal Commission for Tracing Missing persons started exhumations near [[Bosanski Brod]], due to a suspicion that a number of [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] victims were buried in the location which is actually a Bosniak graveyard. A report mentions the possibility of an illegal trade with human organs, given the victims were found for the most part naked.<ref name="nato-nn-2004">{{cite web |
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| url = http://www.nato.int/sfor/media/2004/ms040811.htm |
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| title = EXHUMATIONS - Most victims suspected to be civilians from Vukovar |
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| author = [[Nezavisne novine]] |
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| work = [[SFOR]] Main News Summary |
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| publisher = [[NATO]] |
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| date = 2004-08-11 |
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| accessdate = 2010-06-02 |
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}}</ref> Judge of the Zenica-Doboj Court from [[Zenica]], Enisa Adrović, noted the [[exhumation]]s had taken 14 days, and that the victims were for the most part Serb civilians. The exhumation recovered 59 corpses and was done under the supervision of [[International Commission on Missing Persons|Federation Commission for Missing Persons]]. The first 8 bodies found had personal objects (cloths, T-shirt, a belt, buttons, spectacles), yet the remaining 49 bodies had no objects that could help in their identification. Among them there were 18 bodies of children.<ref name="nato-nn-2004"/> |
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Several exhumation officials initially suspected that most victims were civilians from [[Vukovar]], including Goran Krcmar, a member of the Republika Srpska Office for Missing Persons and the District Prosecutor of Doboj, Slavko Krulj, who referenced the Veritas Information Center.<ref name="nato-nn-2004"/> But, these assumptions were subsequently refuted. No representatives from the Republic of Croatia's Office for Missing Persons were present at the exhumation.<ref name="nato-nn-2004"/> Savo Štrbac, Director of the Veritas Information Center, noted that the number of children found seemed to vastly exceed the amount of children actually reported as missing from Sijekovac.<ref name="nato-nnos-2004">{{cite web |
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| url = http://www.nato.int/sfor/media/2004/ms040812t.htm |
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| title = EXHUMATIONS - Exhumation of mass grave at Sijekovac completed, 59 bodies found |
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| author = [[Nezavisne novine]] and [[Oslobođenje]] |
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| work = [[SFOR]] Main News Summary |
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| publisher = [[NATO]] |
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| date = 2004-08-12 |
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| accessdate = 2010-06-02 |
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}}</ref> Tomo Aračić, the president of ''Udruženje '92'', the organization that initiated the exhumation in the first place, said that they had no actual information about any Vukovar children at Sijekovac.<ref name="vjesnik">{{cite news |
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| url = http://www.vjesnik.hr/html/2004/08/13/Clanak.asp?r=van&c=1 |
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| title = Djeca iskopana iz grobnice u Sijekovcu nisu iz Vukovara |
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| newspaper = [[Vjesnik]] |
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| language = Croatian |
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| date = 2004-08-13 |
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| accessdate = 2009-05-01 |
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| last = Garmaz |
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| first = Željko |
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| coauthors = Matkić, Zoran}}</ref> The presiding officer of the Federal Commission for Missing Persons Marko Jurišić also stated unequivocally that the identities of the majority of the bodies were unknown and that they only analysis from forensic medicine experts could determine that.<ref name="vjesnik"/> |
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In May 2010, the leaders of Republika Srpska [[Rajko Kuzmanović]] and [[Milorad Dodik]], the Croatian president [[Ivo Josipović]] and the prominent Bosniak leader [[Sulejman Tihić]] visited the site to pay respect to around fifty civilian victims of the March 1992 events, at the local Orthodox Church of [[Saint Marina the Martyr]].<ref name="novilist-2010">{{cite news |
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| url = http://www.novilist.hr/2010/05/31/josipovic-odao-pocast-ubijenim-s.aspx |
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| language = Croatian |
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| title = Hrvatski predsjednik dočekan pljeskom - Josipović odao počast ubijenim srpskim civilima |
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| newspaper = [[Novi list]] |
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| date = 2010-05-30 |
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| accessdate = 2010-06-02 |
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}}</ref> The site and the visit provoked some controversy in the Croatian public, with allegations of impropriety levelled against President Josipović and the authorities of Republika Srpska for misattributing some of the casualties.<ref name="slobodna-2010"/> |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 12:53, 24 January 2013
