Shelling of the D 393 near Grdelica

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The shelling of the D 393 near Grdelica was a double military attack by NATO on the Morava Bridge, which hit the express train D 393 Niš - Ristovac near Grdelica in Serbia on April 12, 1999 during the Kosovo war . 14 dead and 16 injured were the result.

Starting position

On April 12, 1999, the express train D 393 passed the Morava Bridge over the Grdelica Gorge at around 11:40 a.m. It was the second day of the Orthodox Easter celebrations , and the train was accordingly heavily packed with passengers .

During the war against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, NATO carried out Operation Allied Force these days . The aim was to end the repression of Yugoslavia against Kosovo . The war had started with attacks on military targets, but now increasingly turned against industrial companies and transport infrastructure. Civil targets were also increasingly hit.

Attacks

F-15E Strike-Eagle

The first attack on the Morava Bridge came from a great distance. It was supposed to hit the bridge that the D 393 was currently traveling on: a US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft bombed the bridge with two AGM-130 bombs . The bomb did not hit the bridge, but the train, which was badly damaged. The crew of the aircraft realized that the bridge had not been hit and made a second attack. This too did not hit the bridge, but the first wagon of the train because - as was later claimed - the fire caused by the first attack obstructed the view. This was an "accident", which the corresponding film recordings should prove.

consequences

In the attacks, 14 people died on the train and 16 others were injured. The bombing resulted in the complete suspension of rail traffic in Yugoslavia.

Bridge over the Morava and memorial to the victims of the attack

Fierce controversy followed the attack. Yugoslavia accused the USA of a criminal violation of international martial law . They, in turn, assessed the incident as collateral damage from an attack on militarily relevant infrastructure covered by international martial law and regretted it. The controversy was intensified when the Frankfurter Rundschau revealed a little later that the film showing the attack had been shown to the press at 4.7 times the speed of the recording, making the speed of the moving train far higher, than it actually was. The Pentagon and NATO admitted this mistake.

Amnesty International was among the critics of the second attack , which alleged a violation of the principle of proportionality .

The damaged bridge was repaired and returned to traffic in September 1999.

ICTY

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) set up a commission in May 1999 to investigate whether international law had been violated during the Kosovo war . The attack on the Grdelica Bridge formed one of the main areas of investigation of the commission on possible war crimes because of the high number of civilian casualties and the repetition of the attack .

Overall, the commission of inquiry was of the opinion that the attack was aimed at a legitimate target and was proportionate. She presented this result of her investigation to the Chief Prosecutor , Carla Del Ponte . This came to the conclusion that the incident could therefore not be brought to justice by the ICTY. The author of an expert opinion, Ekkehard Wenz , which was used for the investigation report, was convinced that the train was being attacked with intent .

NATO did not provide the court with any documents that would allow insight into the chain of command. An investigation into whether higher commanding commanders were involved and whether the incident fell within the competence of the ICTY could not be verified. The court, however, suspected that the pilot and weapons control officer were to blame for the fact that they might have violated the principles of warfare and criticized the ruthlessness of the second weapon deployment.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Glas Srpske.
  2. ^ NATO: NATO & Kosovo.
  3. ^ A b Press conference by Jamie Shea and General Wesley Clark .
  4. ↑ a b Glas javnosti: Film NATO.
  5. ↑ Frenick.
  6. ↑ BBC News: Children's choir .
  7. ^ Statement of the Honorable John J. Hamre, Deputy Secretary of Defense. Before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence ( RTF ; 22 kB) v. July 22, 1999.
  8. ↑ Agence France Presse : NATO used speeded-up film to excuse civilian deaths in Kosovo v. January 6, 2000.
  9. ^ DefenseLink News Transcript: DoD News Briefing - Mr. Crowley, PDASD PA and RADM Quigley, DASD PAV v. January 6, 2000.
  10. ↑ BBC News: Nato missile video 'no distortion' v. January 7, 2000.
  11. ↑ Amnesty International: NATO / Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: "Collateral damage" or unlawful killings ( Memento of August 16, 2000 in the Internet Archive ), May 7, 2000.
  12. ^ NN: Reconstruction of rail bridge in Grdelica Gorge. In: Borba [English-language daily newspaper] v. September 15, 1999.
  13. ↑ a b ICTY: Final report .
  14. ↑ Paolo Benvenuti, The ICTY prosecuter and the Review of the NATO Bombing Campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (PDF; 164 kB)

Coordinates: 42 ° 54 '26.1 "  N , 22 ° 2' 56.6"  E