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The Tovarnik massacre was the mass murder of Croat civilians by the JNA and other Serb forces on 22 September 1991 in the village of Tovarnik.

Background

During the September 1991 Yugoslav Campaign in Croatia, JNA forces and local Serb rebels from surrounding areas, attacked and occupied several villages in Eastern Slavonia and Croatian Syrmia (modern-day Vukovar-Srijem County) during the JNA-led offensive against Vukovar and adjacent areas.

The village of Tovarnik, on the border with Serbia, was located 25 kilometres from Vukovar. The JNA started to shell Tovarnik on the 12 September 1991. An ultimatum was soon given to the residents of Tovarnik to surrender control of the village to the JNA. While negotiations were still ongoing, the JNA attacked and shelled the village on the 20th September. The next day, the JNA entered the village with tanks.[1]

Killings

Once JNA forces, and other local Serb rebels, entered the village they immediately began to abuse and kill the remaining Croat inhabitants that had not been able to flee, 68 Croat civilians were killed on 22 September 1991.[2] Among those killed included the village priest, Ivan Burik.[2][3]

According to the findings of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre, a total of 80 local residents of Tovarnik were killed by JNA and other Serb forces, during and after the attack on the village.[4]

In the months following the massacre, the local Croat civilian population that remained continued to be abused and persecuted. Croats were forced to wear white armbands to identify themselves.[2][better source needed] Civilians from Tovarnik and nearby areas continued to be psychologically and physically tortured, with some 300 civilians and POWs taken to nearby detention camps. Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina had expelled 95% of the 2,500 Croat inhabitants by the end of 1991 and had destroyed 75% of the homes and buildings in the village.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Humanitarian Law Centre: Dossier: The JNA in the wars in Croatia and BiH". p. 48.
  2. ^ a b c "22. rujna 1991. Tovarnik – pokolj 68 Hrvata nakon okupacije sela heroja". Narod.hr. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  3. ^ Cançado Trindade, Antônio A. (2017). Judge Antônio A. Cançado Trindade. The construction of a humanized international law. A collection of individual opinions (2013-2016). Vol. 3. Leiden: Brill / Martinus Nijhoff. pp. 123, 174, 197. ISBN 978-90-04-34004-6. OCLC 993638126.
  4. ^ "Humanitarian Law Centre: Dossier: The JNA in the wars in Croatia and BiH". p. 48.
  5. ^ Vuković, Tomislav (25 September 2011). "Povodom 20. obljetnice srpskih zločina u Tovarniku" (PDF). Glas Koncila. No. 39.

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