The Serb National Council (SNV) said on Saturday it had organised a commemoration in Medak near Gospic for the civilians and POWs, mainly Serbs, killed, abused and massacred in the Croatian army and police Operation Medak Pocket 30 years ago.

Most victims were killed during the operation from 9 to 11 September 1993, and the villages of Pocitelj, Čitluk and Divoselo were burned to the ground and plundered as the units withdrew on 17 September, the SNV said, citing a verdict in the most documented war crime committed against Serbs in Croatia in the 1990s.

Per SNV data, at least 28 Serb civilians and over 50 soldiers were killed. Some soldiers were killed after being captured and torture was proved in some cases, the SNV said.

Today’s commemoration is an expression of the deepest Christian moral feeling and should have been attended also by representatives of the authorities and all those who knew about Medak, SNV president Milorad Pupovac said, adding that the SNV will do its best to attend a commemoration in Siroka Kula, a village 10 km from Gospic.

According to public data, Serb soldiers killed 40 Croats there on 13 October 1991 and the next few days.

Pupovac said a memorial plaque with the names of the victims should be put up near the local church.

One should not deepen and spread hate because there is too much of it, because this hate caused this suffering, he added.

These war crimes were committed by members of the Croatian army, ostensibly in the name of Croatia, which is why representatives of the government and the army should be here today, said Antifascist League president Zoran Pusic.

They should honour the victims and emphasise that the Croatian state has nothing to do with such crimes and that the courts will try and condemn them, he said, adding that trials have been difficult and slow.

Minimum sentences have been given for dozens of men and women killed, some even below the legal minimum, Pusic said, adding that the victims should be remembered and young people enabled to learn from the experience of older people.

These war crimes were committed brutally and with the intention of ethnic cleansing, and they represent “fascism in its worst phase,” Pusic said.

The Serbian president’s envoy for the war missing, Veran Matic, said the victims’ families had filed compensation lawsuits and that in some cases, such as that of Boja Pjevac, they were dismissed and the investigation is ongoing.

Croatia’s Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights have not given positive answers to the victims, Matic said.

Some victims’ families feel the culture of not recognising the crimes has prevailed and that instead of regretting the victims, criminals are glorified, he added.