The Komić killings refers to the mass murder of elderly Serb civilians from the village of

Komić Komić ( sr-cyr, Комић) is a village in the Udbina municipality in the Lika region of central Croatia. The 2011 population was 20. History Near the village once was the Fort Komić which was built by Kurjaković family in the 14th century. ...

in August 1995 by members of the Croatian Army (HV), five days after Operation Storm.

Background

By March 1991, tensions between Croats and Serbs escalated into the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

. Following a referendum on independence that was largely boycotted by Croatian Serbs, the Croatian parliament officially adopted independence on 25 June. The

Republic of Serb Krajina The Republic of Serbian Krajina or Serb Republic of Krajina ( sh, Република Српска Крајина, italics=no / or РСК / ''RSK'', ), known as the Serbian Krajina ( / ) or simply Krajina, was a self-proclaimed Serb proto-state, ...

(RSK) declared its intention to secede from Croatia and join the Republic of Serbia while the

Government of the Republic of Croatia The Government of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Hrvatske), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Vlada Republike Hrvatske), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government ( hr, hrvatska Vlada), is the main executive branch of government ...

declared it a rebellion. Between August 1991 and February 1992, the RSK initiated an ethnic cleansing campaign to drive out the Croat and non-Serb population from RSK-held territory, eventually expelling as many as 250,000 people according to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

. Croatian forces also engaged in ethnic cleansing against Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina on a more limited scale. On 4 August 1995, the Croatian Army (HV) launched Operation Storm to retake the Krajina region which was completed successfully by 7 August. The Operation resulted in the exodus of approximately 200,000 Serbs from Krajina while those Serbs who were unable or unwilling to leave their homes, primarily the elderly, were subjected to various crimes. The

ICTY The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

puts the number of Serb civilians killed at 324.

Killings

Five days after Operation Storm, HV members entered the Lika village of Komic, killing civilians after burning houses and outbuildings. There were nine victims. According to a

U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizin ...

report, three of the victims were burned alive.

Legal proceedings

Several of the murders in Komić were included in the

's indictment of former Croatian general Ante Gotovina. In the appeal of the

trial of Gotovina et al The Trial of Gotovina et al. was a war crimes trial held from March 2008 until (including the appeals process) November 2012 before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), set up in 1993. The ICTY indicted Croatian A ...

which acquitted Gotovina and

Mladen Markač Mladen Markač (; born 8 May 1955) is a Croatian retired general. He was a Commander of Croatian Special Police during Operation Storm during the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995), and afterwards held the rank of Colonel General. Later, ...

, the

ruled that there was insufficient evidence to conclude the existence of a joint criminal enterprise to remove Serb civilians by force. The Appeals Chamber further stated that the Croatian Army and Special Police committed crimes after the artillery assault, but the state and military leadership had no role in their planning and creation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Komić killings 1995 in Croatia Mass murder in 1995 Croatian war crimes in the Croatian War of Independence Massacres in Croatia Massacres of Serbs History of the Serbs of Croatia August 1995 events in Europe Massacres in the Croatian War of Independence