PHOTO EXHIBITION ON THE SUFFERING AND STATUS OF SERBS IN CROATIA OPENED

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 4 /SRNA/ - The position of Serbs in Croatia today is no less difficult than it was during the war and post-war years, which is best illustrated through the photo exhibition "Lest We Forget – 30 Years Since the Exodus from the Republic of Serbian Krajina – Storm Still Ongoing," said Acting Director of the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes, and the Search for Missing Persons Viktor Nuždić.

Following the opening of the exhibition, held to mark the 30th anniversary of the criminal Operation Storm, Nuždić told reporters that the photographs depict crimes committed against Serbs and their property after the operation, as well as recent events, in which the same ideologies that committed genocide against the Serb people throughout the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ during World War II have once again resurfaced.

"The ethnic cleansing committed in the 1990s reduced Serbs to a statistical error in Croatia, and today it is evident that even dead Serbs are unwelcome. We are witnessing the adoption of a grotesque law in Croatia that allows a designated commission to remove any grave through revision if it is deemed to `glorify Serbian aggression,`" Nuždić pointed out.

He emphasized that the international community remains silent on everything happening in Croatia today; Western embassies issue no condemnations, and the Croatian authorities do not react.

"I would remind you of the concert by Marko Perković Thompson, which glorified the Ustasha ideology, and yet there was no reaction from Croatian institutions. This sends a clear message to the remaining Serbs that there is no place for them in Croatia. It is simply a continuation of the campaign that has been waged against Serbs for years," said Nuždić.

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.

A day later, on August 5, the Croatian army entered the nearly deserted town of Knin and raised the Croatian flag, while convoys of refugees moved through Serb territories in BiH, heading toward Serbia.