Representatives of several nongovernmental associations on Friday held a protest rally in Zagreb's main square against what they called "a systematic policy of downplaying" war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs during and in the wake of the 1995 Operation Storm.

The Centre for Women Victims of War – ROSA, the Centre for Civil Courage, the Social Research and Communication Association and the Women’s Network of Croatia organised this anti-war rally for the 28th anniversary of Operation Storm, entitled “Operation Storm war crimes are the responsibility of us all”.

They carried several banners with messages such as “Not in our name” or “Nationalism kills” which was written both in the Latin and the Cyrillic script.

One of the activists said that “irresponsible behaviour of office-holders pushes us further in deeper and deeper social divisions.”

She said that the acquittal of generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac did not mean that no war crimes had been committed during Operation Storm.

The judgments delivered by the court (ICTY) include materials on investigations of a high number of war crimes, she added.

The NGOs also demand that the Croatian government should assess the effects of the implementation of the legislation on civilian victims of the war which was adopted two years ago.

Two NGOs welcome joint commemoration of war victims

Another two NGOs — Documenta and the Osijek-based Centre for peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights — today welcomed the joint commemoration of war crimes held in Otocac and Doljani on Thursday.

The Otocac city authorities and the Serbian National Council (SNV) in Otocac and Doljani on Thursday jointly commemorated Croatian defenders and Serb civilians killed during and in the aftermath of Operation Storm in August 1995.

They sent a message about the importance of mutual respect for the casualties of the war.