NUŽDIĆ: OPERATION STORM COMPLETED GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS THAT BEGAN IN NDH

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 2 /SRNA/ – Acting Director of the Republic Research Centre of War, War Crimes, and Tracing Missing Persons, Viktor Nuždić, stated that in 1995, the genocide against the Serb people on the territory of Croatia, – which began in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/, was completed.

This genocide had a clear goal: the total extermination of Serbs. "Through the military operations `Flash` and `Storm`, the modern Croatian state put an end to the existence of Serbs by carrying out ethnic cleansing and reducing them from a constituent people to a statistical error," Nuždić told SRNA. He pointed out that the Hague Tribunal, which was supposed to symbolize international justice and truth, turned into its opposite – a farce. "Croatian generals responsible for the expulsion of Serbs from Croatia were first convicted and then acquitted, effectively legalizing crimes against Serbs, since no one was convicted before that court," Nuždić emphasized. He added that the Croatian military operation "Storm," along with "Southern Move" and "Maestral," irreversibly changed the ethnic composition of the territories where Serbs had lived for centuries. "Although Republika Srpska Krajina no longer exists, it is the duty of Republika Srpska institutions to never allow the suffering of the Serb people to be forgotten or silenced. We are obliged to cultivate a culture of remembrance and to always send a clear message – we are one people," Nuždić stressed. The criminal operation "Storm" began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian army and police, along with HVO units, in the regions of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia. The following day, August 5, the Croatian army entered the nearly deserted town of Knin and raised the Croatian flag, while convoys of refugees moved through Serb controlled territories in BiH toward Serbia. According to the Veritas documentation centrer, more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled during "Storm," and 1,903 names of the Serbs killed and missing during the operation and its aftermath are listed. Of those, 1,247 were civilians /66%/, and about three-quarters were over 60 years old.