PRIBIČEVIĆ: CROATIAN SOLDIERS MASSACRED SERB DISABLED PERSONS IN DVOR

BANJA LUKA, JULY 16 /SRNA/ – Milorad Pribičević from Banja Luka, who lived in Dvor na Uni before the war, says the Croatian soldiers massacred nine Serbs with disabilities at the Dvor Elementary School in 1995, which is the information he gor from a nurse who had been caring for them.

“The massacre occurred the day after the official end of the Croatian military-police operation ‘Storm’ in the Krajina region and was committed by Croatian soldiers, the members of either the Sunja Battalion or the Sisak Thunders,” Pribičević told SRNA. He explained that the information came from a nurse who had worked at the school in Dvor, taking care of disabled persons evacuated from a nursing home in Petrinja, which has since closed. “This woman, who now lives in Australia, told me that she, the other staff, and the mobile residents fled before the soldiers arrived. Those who couldn’t walk were left behind in the unlocked school. However, someone locked them in later, and then the Croatian soldiers broke in using explosives and killed them all,” Pribičević said. Speaking about the wartime events in Dvor during Operation Storm, Pribičević stated that the 145th Zagreb Brigade first entered the town, followed by the Sunja Battalion and the Sisak Thunders. Pribičević pointed to the existence of numerous video recordings showing crimes committed against Serb soldiers and civilians along the Glina–Dvor na Uni road. These acts were carried out by members of the Croatian Army’s special forces unit “Black Mambas” and a special unit within the 505th Bužim Brigade of the so-called Army of BiH’s Fifth Corps. “The video footage shows the Black Mambas taking away and executing captured Serb civilians. Some of the bodies were transported to Petrinja, while others were buried in Dvor. Exhumations revealed that they were mostly Serb civilians from the Kordun area,” Pribičević testified. The horrific execution of disabled Serbs in Dvor resurfaced after Danish UN soldier Ian Velendorf admitted that 200 Danish peacekeepers had silently watched the massacre. Velendorf said he could no longer remain silent, as he had suffered emotionally for years because of the crime. He informed his commander, Jørgen Kold, about the killings while they were happening and requested permission to fire, but was denied. Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office has announced it will formally request Denmark’s Prosecutor’s Office to interview Velendorf. Hague Tribunal investigators had examined the killing of the nine civilians in the late 1990s but later dropped the case. Among the Serbs killed in the “Dvor” Elementary School were Desanka Teodorović, who was sitting on a chair with injuries to her chest and back; Zorka Marić, who had bodily injuries and was killed in a wheelchair; and Jovan Macut, who was found dead, lying across a chair. Ružak had an amputated left leg; Darko Krivokuća was found dead on the floor with severe injuries; Slobodan Vukšić, an elderly man, had serious back wounds; an unidentified woman was found dead with major injuries; another unknown victim was found lying in a classroom in front of the blackboard with a deep wound; and an unidentified elderly woman was found with the left side of her skull blown off. The criminal military-police operation “Storm” began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian Army, police, and units of the Croatian Defence Council /HVO/ in the areas of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia. The following day, on August 5, Croatian forces entered the nearly abandoned town of Knin and raised the Croatian flag, while convoys of refugees fled across Serb-controlled territories in BiH on their way to Serbia. According to data from the Veritas organisation, more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled during Operation Storm. The records list 1,893 Serbs killed or missing during and after the operation, 1,236 of whom were civilians. 65% with approximately three-quarters were over 60 years old. The International Court of Justice /ICJ/, in its February 2015 ruling, classified Operation Storm as ethnic cleansing, not genocide, although global experts in this field argue that the operation exhibited all the characteristics of genocide.