A monument to victims of massacre in
Saborsko
One of the identified mass-graves in
Saborsko
The
Saborsko massacre was a war
crime committed by Serb-led JNA and rebel
Croatian Serbs' militia "Militia of Republic of Serb Krajina" (from
neighbouring Plaški
) on
October 12, 1991 in
which they killed local Croats.
The Saborsko massacre has been one of many massacres committed by
Serb-led
JNA and rebel Croatian Serbs' militia
"Militia of Republic of Serb Krajina" during the
Croatian War of
Independence.
Background
An important fact about the JNA was about its leadership, as well
as its ethnical structure of troops (army obligants, reserves,
officers). Although JNA (Yugoslav National Army) wore the name of
Yugoslavia, the ethnical structure of JNA' soldiers engaged was not
representing the ethnical structure of Yugoslavia; it had no army
obligants from Croatia and Slovenia, nor Croats from Bosnia and
Herzegovina, so the share of Serbs became extremely higher. That
was because of ending of regular one-year military service - one of
"big" classes ended its service at the end of August and the
beginning of September, and after the December of 1991, the
recruitmenet percentage from those republics sharply dropped. The
class of June had no recruits from Croatian and Slovenia at all.
The other important factors, that influenced changed army's
ethnical structure was the deserting of army during the service
(mostly non-Serb soldiers from Croatia and Croats from
Bosnia-Herzegovina), higher percentage of relieving from army
obligation (medical and other reasons) during the service (much
higher than usual) and various evading steps undertaken before the
start of military service. Additionally, reserve forces were
recruited from Serbia and Montenegro (the latter were, however,
engaged on southern Croatian battlefield). Similar was with army's
professional personnel (officers, experts, tehnicians).
The assault
According to the census of 1991, Saborsko had 1,701 inhabitant in
460 households. The majority were the autochthonous
Croats. Local Serb paramilitaries had started with
attacks on Croat villages on October 1, 1991, with military support
of JNA forces from Knin.
Among other attacks, these forces had
attacked Saborsko, a small village located some 10 kilometers
northwest from Plitvička Jezera
.
The assault, ICTY sources confirm, was a part of the
ethnic cleansing plan. According to that
plan, "all Croats and other non-Serbs were to be displaced from
there, in order to get ethnically clean Republic of Serbian
Krajina". Ethnically cleansed areas were used as jumpboards for the
further assaults on other areas of Croatia.
- ""...Thus, the threat clearly expressed in Milan Martić's
ultimatum in Kijevo was carried out in the territory of the SAO
Krajina through the commission of widespread, grave crimes.
This created an atmosphere of fear in which the further
presence of Croats and other non-Serbs in the SAO Krajina was made
impossible. The Trial Chamber has therefore concluded that
the displacement of the Croat and other non-Serb population which
followed these attacks was not merely the consequence of military
action, but in fact its primary objective....
- From August 1991 and into early 1992, these combined forces
attacked several Croat-majority villages and areas, including
Hrvatska Kostajnica, Cerovljani, Hrvatska Dubica, Baćin, Saborsko,
Poljanak, Lipovača, Škabrnja and Nadin. Evidence shows the
attacks were carried out to connect Serb villages and areas across
non-Serb areas. During these attacks, the crimes of
murder, destruction, plunder, detention, torture, and cruel
treatment were committed against the non-Serb
population..."
On October 12, the attackers breached the defense lines of the
village of Saborsko. After that, they went from house to house and
killed peasants (in total 29 of them) that had been unable or
unwilling to abandon the village. After that, all houses were
plundered.
A Catholic church was blown up and the local graveyard was
devastated by the attackers, presumably to remove all traces of
previous Croat inhabitants.
Several of
the villagers survived by sneaking three days through the forests
into Bihać
in
neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina
, where they were accepted and then transferred to
Croatia by buses, where they were given shelter with other refugees
in hotels.
Altogether, in Saborsko, 29 people were killed in this event.
References
External links
Wikis
Map
Search
