Wreath-laying ceremonies were held in the southern Croatian town of Knin on Monday commemorating Croatian civilians and soldiers who had been detained in the camps run by Serb rebels during the 1991-1995 war.

The wreaths were placed in front of the memorial complex in the centre of Knin by delegations of the Croatian President’s office, the parliament and the government as well as by war veterans and local authorities.

During the 1991-95 war, four camps – Stara Bolnica (Old Hospital), Kula (Fortress), Vojarna (Barracks) and Golubic Logor – were set up in the Knin area while it was under the control of the Serb insurgents supported by the then Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA).

Tribute to former inmates of those camps is observed in August, in memory of the first exchange of prisoners of war that happened on the night of August 13-14, 1991, in the village of Tepljuh near the southern town of Drnis. On that occasion, 54 Croatians were released after being held by Serb rebels in the old hospital’s building in Knin from June to August 1991.

Croatian MP Miro Kovac of the ruling centre right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), who attended the ceremony in Knin as representative of the parliament, said that the survivors’ requests for compensation should be fully supported.

Commenting on reporters’ remarks that Serbia seems unwilling to consider the former prisoners’ requests for compensation, Kovac said Serbia would have to solve the issue in accordance to international law, and also as a part of its EU membership talks.

“Inmates who were detained in the Serb-run concentration camps are entitled to the compensation based on international law and on the negotiating framework on Serbia’s accession to the EU,” Kovac said in Knin.

A few thousand victims passed through those four camps. Some of them were physically abused. There were 36 Croatian policemen among the prisoners, and they were exposed to more brutal forms of torture. Tens of detainees died in the camps from torture.

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