PIPLICA: I EXPECT JUSTICE AND CONVICTIONS FOR CROATIAN PILOTS

BANJA LUKA, JULY 22 /SRNA/ – Jovica Piplica from Donji Lapac expects that the Croatian pilots who committed a war crime by bombing a refugee convoy from the Republic of Srpska Krajina on the Petrovačka road in 1995 will be sentenced to maximum prison terms before the Serbian judiciary.

Piplica told SRNA that the Croatian pilots bombed an entirely civilian convoy consisting of tractors, horse-drawn carts, cars, and trucks, with no tanks or military vehicles present.

"Not even Pavelić's Ustashas would have committed such a crime, as they bombed a civilian convoy 100 kilometers away from Knin and the Republic of Srpska Krajina," Piplica stressed, reminding of the documentary film about Operation Storm that showed the world what kind of crime was committed.

Piplica, who was himself wounded in the refugee convoy, testified about the death of his neighbors from the Vuković and Rajić families in the truck driven by his neighbour and work colleague Krstan Vuković.

He stated that Krstan Vuković and his son Darko /13/ were killed, as well as the children of his other neighbor Spaso Rajić – daughter Nevenka /12/ and son Žarko /10/.

According to him, he has been a lifelong heavy smoker and was holding the cellophane from a cigarette pack at the moment of the attack on the convoy, but after the flash and explosion, he remembers nothing as he lost consciousness.

"From the impact of the aircraft bomb, I was thrown 17 meters out the right door of the truck. They revived me and dressed my wounds in the hospital in Petrovac. I knew nothing of my family's fate, who luckily survived the bombing," said Piplica.

Piplica, who now lives with his family in Apatin, underlined that only he knows how he feels today, 30 years after Operation Storm and the expulsion of Serbs from the Republic of Srpska Krajina.

"God forbid any Ustasha to go through what I have, seeing how they were pulling children's bones out of the truck," Piplica said.

He stated that he has lost his health and lives with permanent consequences – psychological trauma and physical injuries from the bombing.

"When a civilian plane sprays for mosquitoes in Serbia, I'm seized by fear and horror, as I am during thunderstorms, and when it's minus temperatures, I'm drenched like a mouse," Piplica said.

He emphasized that if there is justice and God, someone in Croatia must pay damages for the suffering and injuries he endured on the Petrovačka Road.