BRAVNICE MASSACRE - 31 YEARS ON, INVESTIGATION INTO KILLING OF SERB CIVILIANS CONTINUES

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 12 /SRNA/ - 31 years since the war crime over Serb civilians in the village of Bravnice near Jajce marks tomorrow. During the incident Croatian Army units killed more than 80 Serbs, ranging in age from three to 91.

The Special War Crimes Department of the BiH Prosecutor's Office told SRNA that a case "involving proceedings against several individuals remains under investigation" over the attack on a refugee convoy in Bravnice on Sept. 13, 1995, in which a number of civilians were killed or wounded by gunfire and rockets fired from a rocket launcher.

The department said that a number of witnesses had been questioned and substantial documentary evidence collected during the proceedings, adding that the Prosecutor's Office would continue taking steps with the aim of reaching a prosecutorial decision.

During the Croatian Army's joint operation with the Croatian Defense Council in the military operation known as "Maestral," civilians were killed, while those captured were taken to detention camps in Livno and Split. Witnesses say that eight children under the age of 14 were among those killed.

After Croatian Army forces attacked Donji Vakuf, the Serb population in the area, mostly women, children and elderly people, fled towards Jajce and Banja Luka. The convoy was ambushed and its passengers subjected to indiscriminate killing.

They were unarmed civilians who had been caught completely off guard and offered no resistance.

According to witness accounts, more than half of the passengers in one bus were killed or wounded when Croatian Army forces opened fire. The same bus was then hit with a rocket-propelled grenade and set ablaze, with the wounded and dead still inside.

The Republika Srpska Centre for Investigation of War Crimes in Banja Luka submitted a criminal complaint to the BiH Prosecutor's Office naming former Croatian Defense Minister Damir Krstičević, officers Tihomir Blaškić, Stanko Sopta and Mario Petrović, as well as several Croatian soldiers who took part in Operation "Maestral," during which the massacre occurred.

According to witness accounts, the victims were removed from the scene and buried in several mass graves, only one of which has been discovered - at Carevo Polje.

Unknown individuals repeatedly undug graves containing Serb victims and moved the remains to other locations, allegedly with the aim of destroying evidence.

Evidence that the official Croatian Army participated in operations in the area also includes a meeting held in Travnik just days before the Bravnice killings between generals Ante Gotovina and Tihomir Blaškić, on one side, and General Atif Dudaković, representing the so-called Army of BiH, on the other. The meeting was recorded by television cameras.

The Croatian State Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the suspects, despite extensive documentation submitted by the Republika Srpska Prosecutor's Office. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague also declined to prosecute the crime, despite the fact that the victims were civilians.

Belgrade lawyer Dušan Bratić filed a criminal complaint in 2019 against General Damir Krstičević, then commander of the 4th Guards Brigade, who allegedly had command responsibility over those who committed the crime.