Victory Day and Home Gratitude
The day of victory and domestic gratitude ( Croatian Dan pobjede i domovinske zahvalnosti ), supplemented by the name Day of Croatian Defenders (Dan hrvatskih branitelja) since 2008 , has been celebrated as a national holiday in Croatia on August 5th of each year since 1996 .
It is celebrated in memory of the military operation Oluja , carried out from August 4th to 7th, 1995 , by the police and army units of the Croatian Armed Forces (HV) and the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) in the territory of the Republic of Serbian proclaimed by the Krajina Serbs as an independent state Recaptured Krajina . On August 5th, Knin , the "capital" of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, was captured. Knin was originally a seat of the Croatian kings, which is why the city is often referred to as the royal city .
The Sturm military operation brought the war to an end in Croatia and enabled the return of over 170,000 Croatians who had been expelled from the area in 1991 by Serbian militants and units of the Yugoslav People's Army . On the other hand, over 200,000 Krajina Serbs fled the area from the Croatian army. The Croatian traffic connections were freely navigable again, full freedom of movement was restored, the state was functioning normally again.
This military operation also resulted in a military shift in power in favor of the Croatian and Bosnian-Muslim armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina , which in turn led to a more rapid peace settlement in the Bosnian conflict, which was finally sealed by the Dayton Treaty.
On this day, the 13,800 victims are commemorated by laying wreaths in the country's cemeteries.
The citizens of the cities of Zadar , Gospić , Karlovac , Sisak , Nova Gradiška , Osijek , Dubrovnik , Županja and Vinkovci , who were able to move freely in their city again after almost five years of threat from artillery and mortar fire from Serbian rioters , are particularly grateful .
criticism
The statements in Serbia on the occasion of the celebration in Croatia had a completely different tenor. The Serbian President Tadić described the "Sturm" action as organized crime , planned human extermination and violation of human rights , especially the right to life . On January 4, 2010, Serbia filed a lawsuit against Croatia with the International Court of Justice in The Hague for genocide. Croatia, for its part, had filed a genocide lawsuit against Belgrade as early as 1999, which this court accepted in 2008. The International Court of Justice acquitted Serbia and Croatia on February 3, 2015, on charges of genocide. Foreign Minister Vuk Drašković joined the strong criticism of the celebration in Croatia.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) brought charges against Ante Gotovina , the commanding general of Operation "Storm" . The supplementary indictment speaks of a "criminal organization", consisting among others of Gotovina and Tuman, whose aim was "the violent and permanent expulsion of the Serbian population from the Krajina region".
On April 15, 2011, Ante Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years in prison by the International Criminal Court.
The court also found the co-accused ex-general Mladen Markač guilty: he was imprisoned for 18 years. General Ivan Čermak, however, was acquitted.
Tuđman was also mentioned when the verdict was pronounced. One of the judges emphasized: "The then President Franjo Tuđman was the main leader of this criminal organization" and "He wanted the depopulation of the Krajina" .
On November 16, 2012, Gotovina and Markač were acquitted of all charges and released from custody on appeal. With a 3-2 majority decision, it was found that the evidence was insufficient to consider the shelling of the cities ordered by Gotovina and Markač to be illegal. Since the first instance conviction was based on the illegality of the artillery attacks and the first instance had not found direct involvement in Croatia's policy of discrimination, this conviction should also be set aside.
On August 4, 2020, the President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović awarded members of the Croatian Armed Forces and the four Guard Brigades of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) and the Special Police of the Republic of Herceg-Bosna high medals on the 25th anniversary of Operation Oluja . Milanović said:
“The war is over, but after the war there have been attempts to portray this war as a kind of joint criminal enterprise before the Hague Tribunal. I will not go into the motives. We were fortunate that none of our generals, who carried out the orders of the political leadership at the time, were convicted of this so-called joint criminal enterprise. This joint criminal enterprise I'm talking about is one of the dumbest and ugliest inventions ever attempted to impose on Croatia. I am delighted to be able to present you with these honors - you and the brigades from Bosnia and Herzegovina who fought for the liberation of Croatia and the rescue of Bihać! "
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zakon o izmenjama zakonu o blagdanima, spomendanima i neradnim danima u Republici Hrvatskoj (law amending the law on public holidays ...) of May 15, 2008
- ↑ Zakon o blagdanima, spomendanima i neradnim danima u Republici Hrvatskoj (Law on Public Holidays, Remembrance Days and Non-Working Days in the Republic of Croatia) in the version of September 23, 1995 ( Memento of April 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Spiegel Online - International Court of Justice: Serbia sues Croatia for war crimes. Retrieved August 7, 2011 .
- ↑ Beck Online: International Court of Justice: Serbia and Croatia not guilty of genocide , accessed on February 3, 2015.
- ↑ icty.org: Judgment Summary for Gotovina et al. (PDF; 90 kB) , accessed on April 15, 2011
- ^ ORF: 24 years imprisonment for Croatian ex-General Gotovina
- ↑ Die Welt - "The Storm Ends Behind Bars"
- ↑ Appeals Chamber acquits and Orders Release of Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač , press release of the International Criminal Court of 16 November 2012 called on 16 November 2012 found.
- ↑ Summary of the appeal judgment (PDF, 107 KB, English)
- ↑ Detailed appeal judgment (PDF, 1 MB, English)
- ↑ Predsjednik Milanović priređuje prijem za ratne zapovjednike na tvrđavi u Kninu. HRT - Vijesti, August 3, 2020, accessed August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Margareta Jozinović: Milanović odlikovao generale HV-a i gardijske brigade HVO-a. HRT - Vijesti, August 4, 2020, accessed August 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Natali Tabak Gregorić: President Milanović awards "Nikola Šubić Zrinski" medals. HRT - The Voice of Croatia, August 4, 2020, accessed August 4, 2020 .