LINTA: UNPUNISHED SERIOUS CRIMES AGAINST SERBS IN MRKONJIĆ GRAD AND SANSKI MOST

BELGRADE, OCTOBER 10 /SRNA/ – Miodrag Linta, the chair of the Association of Serbs from the Region, stated that it was tragic that the families of Serb victims had been waiting 31 years for justice for the mass crimes committed in Mrkonjić Grad and Sanski Most during the military operations codenamed Southern Move and Sana 95, carried out by Croatian and Muslim forces.

Linta recalled that during the attack and the nearly four-month occupation of the municipality of Mrkonjić Grad, which was seized by the Croatian Army and the Croatian Defence Council /HVO/ on October 10, 1995, more than 220 soldiers and members of the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior, as well as more than 130 civilians, were killed. “The bodies of 181 victims were found in a mass grave at the town cemetery. Exhumations and autopsies established that the victims had been killed at close range with blunt objects,” Linta pointed out. Sanski Most was captured on October 10, 1995, by forces of the 5th Corps of the so-called Army of BiH. During the autumn, these forces committed serious crimes against Serbs in the area, as evidenced by three mass graves and 57 individual graves, the Association of Serbs from the Region announced. A total of 289 Serb victims were recorded in the Sanski Most area, including 128 civilians. The remains of 72 people were exhumed from the largest mass grave, located in the settlement of Šušnjari. Linta emphasized that the suffering of Serbs in Mrkonjić Grad and Sanski Most was part of the broader ethnic cleansing of the Serb population in the western Krajina region during 1995. During the military operations Maestral, Sana 95 and Southern Move, carried out by Croatian and Muslim forces in September and October 1995, the Serb population was expelled from 11 municipalities in the western Krajina region: Šipovo, Drvar, Donji Vakuf, Jajce, Petrovac, Ključ, Krupa na Vrbasu, Ripač, Kupres, Mrkonjić Grad and Sanski Most. Earlier, in late July of that year, Croatian forces had captured Grahovo and Glamoč during Summer ’95 Operation, after which the killing and displacement of Serbs followed. Linta noted that, in addition to the killings and expulsions, Serb-owned homes, apartments, schools and factories were systematically looted during and after these military operations, while Serb property and public utility infrastructure were systematically destroyed. “It is particularly tragic that the families of Serb victims are still waiting for justice after more than three decades,” Linta concluded.