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 The Croatian Army ( or HKoV) is the land force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It is numerically the largest of the three branches of the Croatian Armed Forces. The HKoV is the main force for the defense of the country against external threa ...

(HV), five days after

Operation Storm Operation Storm ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Operacija Oluja, separator=" / ", Операција Олуја) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory f ...

Background

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

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

. 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 (RSK) declared its intention to

secede Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the c ...

from Croatia and join the

Republic of Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

while the

Government of the Republic of Croatia The Government of Croatia (), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia (), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government (), is the main executive branch of government in Croatia. It is led by the Prime Minister of Croatia, president o ...

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 that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

. 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

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 tribun ...

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. 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 Ante Gotovina (born 12 October 1955) is a Croatian retired lieutenant general and former French senior corporal who served in the Croatian War for Independence. He is noted for his primary role in the 1995 Operation Storm. In 2001, the Intern ...

. In the appeal of the trial of Gotovina et al 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 Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine that has been used during war crimes tribunals to prosecute individuals in a group for the actions of said group. This doctrine considers each member of an organized group individually respons ...

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 in Europe Massacres in the Croatian War of Independence