MARKING 31 YEARS SINCE POGROM OF SERBS FROM WESTERN SLAVONIA

BANJA LUKA, MAY 1 /SRNA/ – The 31st anniversary of the pogrom of 15,000 Serbs from Western Slavonia during the Croatian operation Flash will be marked today in Gradiška, which killed not less than 263 Serbs, including 12 children.

The commemoration will be attended by Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan, Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić, and Minister of Labour, War Veterans and Disabled Persons Protection Radan Ostojić. The programme begins at 08:30 a.m. with a divine liturgy at the Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God for the Serbs who perished in Western Slavonia. At 10:30 a.m., a memorial service will be held at the memorial to the victims from Western Slavonia, where wreaths and flowers will be laid, followed by addresses from officials and a spiritual programme. On May 1, 1995, Croatian armed forces carried out an offensive under the codename “Flash” against the Serb-controlled region of Western Slavonia, which was part of Republika Srpska Krajina, at a time when the area was under UN protection. More than 16,000 members of the Croatian armed forces were deployed against the Serbs in Western Slavonia, including around 15,000 civilians and about 4,000 soldiers. Around 1,450 members of the Serb Army of Krajina were captured, most of them through deception with the assistance of UN forces, many of whom later endured severe psychological and physical abuse in Bjelovar and Varaždin. This Croatian operation, within just 36 hours, expelled 15,000 Serbs, killed at least 263, including 107 civilians, among them 12 children.