DAY OF MOURNING TO COMMEMORATE SERBS KILLED IN "OPERATION STORM"

BANJA LUKA, JULY 21 /SRNA/ - The Government of Republika Srpska has declared August 4 a Day of Mourning in Srpska, marking the Day of Remembrance for the killed and exiled Serbs in the Croatian military-police operation "Storm," during which more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled from the areas of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia.

The Day of Mourning will be observed in the manner prescribed by the Law on Observing the Day of Mourning, the Public Relations Bureau of the Government of Srpska announced.

The Government adopted this decision today during a telephone session.

The criminal military-police operation "Storm" began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian army and police, as well as units of the HVO, in the areas of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia.

A day later, on August 5, the Croatian army entered an almost deserted Knin and hoisted the Croatian flag, while columns of refugees headed toward Serbia across Serb territories in BiH.

According to data from the Documentation and Information Center "Veritas," more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled during "Storm," and the records contain the names of 1,903 Serbs who were killed or went missing during and after the operation. Of that number, 1,247 /or 66 percent/ were civilians, and about three-quarters were over the age of 60.

In its February 2015 ruling, the International Court of Justice qualified "Storm" as ethnic cleansing, but not as genocide, although world experts in this field claim that the operation bore all the characteristics of a genocide.