Serbia and Croatia define locations to search for missing in 1990s war

NEWS 23.10.202020:01
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Croatia and Serbia agreed on Friday which locations will be searched for the remaining 1,900 people who went missing in the 1990s war, Hina was informed following a meeting of the two countries' commissions in Belgrade, which was also attended by the International Red Cross.

Serbia is expected to search three locations, near Sremski Karlovci and Bogojevo in Vojvodina and grave sites along the Danube from Smederevo towards the Djerdap hydro power plant.

Croatia will search the Knin cemetery and identified graves following the Flash and Storm military operations.

During bilateral meetings between the two countries, the search for the missing has been underlined as one of the priorities for improving relations between them.

During a recent meeting in Petrovaradin, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and Croatia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman described the search for the missing as a humanitarian and civilizational issue.

“Based on Croatia’s demands we will continue with additional detailed searches in archives related to certain information that Zagreb is requesting. Today we asked Croatia again to see if it had any new information regarding the Bjelovar and Karlovac barracks and Lora,” the chairman of Serbia’s commission for the missing, Veljko Odalovic, said.

Croatia insists on having security-intelligence archives of the former Yugoslav army opened as they could contain information of the transfer of bodies from mass grave sites in Croatia.

We are also seeking the return of confiscated medical documents from Vukovar and the opening of archives and documents related to that area, the chairman of Croatia’s commission, Stjepan Sucuc said, as carried by Radio Free Europe.

He added that seven potential locations are being investigated in Lika-Senj County, whereas investigations were conducted in Vukovar-Srijem County in search of the remains of 526 people killed in 1991.

The search continues in the broader area around Ovcara for the remains of 65 wounded people who were taken from Vukovar hospital, which is why Zagreb has requested a thorough search of documents which may disclose useful information.