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“Nine civilians, their fellow citizens and family members were brutally murdered on their doorstep, despite the fact that there was no more war in that area. As Prime Minister, I deeply regret this and on behalf of the government I express my deepest condolences to the members of their family. whose lives “Unfortunately, he did not protect,” Plenković said in Varivode at the commemoration of the victims, organized by the Serbian National Council (SNV) and the Kistanje municipality.
In addition to turning the families of those killed into black, this crime is “also an insult to modern Croatia, because it insults human dignity,” Plenković said.
“He is trampling on those ideals that the vast majority of Croatian defenders, including Serbs, fought for and fought for a free, democratic and tolerant Croatia,” the prime minister said.
Plenković recalled that the crime was committed a month and a half after the end of the military-police operation Storm, which, he added, liberated much of Croatia and ended the Homeland War.
He stressed that the perpetrators of this and other crimes after the “Storm” caused damage to Croatia and that because of them, Croatian generals had to defend a part of the country for years in The Hague.
“All these crimes after the Storm cannot be justified in any way … Every act of this kind is an ugly scar on a just person and the defensive character of the National War, because a legitimate right to defense cannot be a excuse for a week, “said Plenković.
He said that all these crimes were the work of individuals, soldiers or civilians, and that they were never the policy of the state or of then-President Franjo Tudjman.
The Prime Minister recalled that some relatives of the victims received compensation through court decisions, but that it was the duty of the competent bodies to find and punish those responsible for these crimes, because war crimes are not obsolete.
Plenković sent a message of reconciliation and hope to the representatives of the Serbian community to build a common future for all Croatian citizens.
This does not mean forgetting what happened in the war, but learning lessons and giving yourself a hand of peace. For Croats, this means gaining strength and admitting that in the Homeland War, albeit on the defensive, crimes were committed against Serbian civilians that should not have happened. justifications deserve all the convictions and prosecutions of those responsible, because Croatia defended itself from the aggression, not from innocent civilians “, emphasized Plenković.
He added that, on the other hand, for the Serbs in Croatia, this means “gaining strength and recognizing that Croatia was attacked by the Slobodan Milosevic regime and the former JNA and that an armed rebellion against the legally elected government cannot be justified. and the democratic will of the Croatian people for independence. ” State, which deserves unequivocal condemnation, especially in this area where the first barricades were erected in August 1990 “.
This also means a clear demarcation of the politics of the then Greater Serbia in the name of which thousands of innocent people were killed throughout Croatia and due to which thousands of Croatian war veterans died, many of whom disappeared and many crimes as well. they have gone unpunished to this day. 1991 in the neighboring Croatian villages burned down, “emphasized Plenković.
He noted that “everyone must have the strength to take their share of responsibility and calmly look at all levels of events and look to the future.”
“As a victorious country in the imposed war, Croatia has the strength and the desire, but also the duty to make all its citizens feel good about it,” emphasized the Prime Minister, adding that this also means better living conditions. for all citizens and regions of Croatia.
The Chairman of the Serbian Independent Democratic Party, Milorad Pupovac, said 57 people died in the Kistanja municipality alone after Operation Storm, and that they were killed in other places around Knin.
“All these civilian victims have in common that (after the Storm) they stayed at home, in their homeland and in the country … They remained convinced that nothing would happen to them, just as nothing happened to anyone during the years of war, “he said. is Pupovac.
He said that he was aware that in the years before the “Storm” many citizens of Croatian nationality died and that everyone had an obligation to remember it as well.
“Speaking here, I am aware of the fact that there is not only a public conscience about that, but there is a moral conscience in me that these crimes were committed against members of the Croatian people and we must have the same sense of respect,” Pupovac emphasized .
He assessed that the arrival of Deputy Prime Minister of the Serbian national minority Boris Milosevic on the anniversary of the storm in Knin, the gestures of Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, the speech of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Knin, Deputy Prime Minister Tomo Medved in Grubori and the current presence of the prime minister in Varivode are nationally responsible and politically responsible. brave.
The commemoration in Varivode was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic, Minister Ivan Malenica, the special envoy of the President of Serbia, Veran Maric, as well as representatives of numerous associations.
A commemoration was then held in the nearby village of Gosic for seven Serbian civilians, mostly elderly, killed on August 27, 1995.
This year, the celebration of Thanksgiving Day for Victory and the Fatherland, Croatian Veterans Day and the 25th anniversary of the military-police operation “Storm” was attended for the first time by a high political representative of the Serbian national minority, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic. an important message of reconciliation “in relations between Croats and the Serbian minority, but also between Croatia and Serbia.
Then in late August, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Tomo Medved attended the commemoration of Serbian civilians killed after Operation Storm in the village of Grubori, near Knin, which was assessed as a step forward in the normalization of relations between Croatia and Serbia.
Kurir.rs/Beta
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