ZAGREB, April 26 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) on Monday presented a report "The Military Operation Storm and After", containing the gravest forms and cases of human rights violation in areas caught
in the military police operation "Storm" of 1995. The 200-page report also includes the names of 410 Serb civilians who were killed during the operation and 100 days after, the names of 24 persons killed between 1996 and 1999, and cases of terrorism, violence and abuse. The HHO stressed that perpetrators of most of the crimes have not been discovered, and condemned the Croatian authorities, which "should not have allowed those crimes" and "are not doing anything to shed light on them". According to the report, at least 22,000 houses were destroyed, set on fire, or mined in the areas caught in the operation. Houses which were not destroyed were completely devastat
ZAGREB, April 26 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights (HHO) on Monday presented a report "The Military Operation
Storm and After", containing the gravest forms and cases of human
rights violation in areas caught in the military police operation
"Storm" of 1995.
The 200-page report also includes the names of 410 Serb civilians
who were killed during the operation and 100 days after, the names
of 24 persons killed between 1996 and 1999, and cases of terrorism,
violence and abuse.
The HHO stressed that perpetrators of most of the crimes have not
been discovered, and condemned the Croatian authorities, which
"should not have allowed those crimes" and "are not doing anything
to shed light on them".
According to the report, at least 22,000 houses were destroyed, set
on fire, or mined in the areas caught in the operation. Houses which
were not destroyed were completely devastated and looted, as were
Orthodox churches, the report read.
The HHO calls this "a systematic implementation of the scorched-
earth policy", and accuses the 4th Guard Brigade of having the lead
role in this policy, "leaving behind burned villages, destroyed
monuments of anti-fascism, and a myriad of Ustashi symbols".
The HHO also named the 7th Guard Brigade as an example of
professionalism, adding that in many cases ethnic Serbs commended
their conduct.
The Government does not wish members of the Serb minority to return
in large numbers and change the ethnic image of the area, created
after the "Storm", the report read.
The report is intended for domestic and foreign public, and will
also be forwarded to the Croatian President, the Government,
Croatian judicial institutions, and the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
(hina) it jn/rml