Belgrade's Historic War Crimes Trial: Croatian Air Force Pilots Face Justice
The initial primary hearing for the trial of four Croatian Air Force pilots charged with launching rockets at Serb refugee convoys near Bosanski Petrovac in Bosnia and Herzegovina commenced on Friday in the War Crimes Division of the Higher Court in Belgrade.
The pilots facing charges will be put on trial in their absence, as they have remained unreachable by Serbian judicial authorities since the start of the investigation in 2021.
Zdenko Radulj, aged 70, Željko Jelenić, 69, Vladimir Mikac, 68, and Danijel Borović, 65, all face accusations from Serbia for allegedly executing the command to launch rockets at the refugee columns traveling along the Petrovac and Prijedor roads within the territory of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK). This incident occurred on August 7th and 8th, 1995.
Thirteen individuals died as a result of the shelling of the column, including six children who were below the age of 13. Additionally, around two dozen more people were injured.
The bombardment, known as "Operation Storm," occurred amid the peak of the Croatian war of independence, spanning from March 1991 to November 1995.
The dispute erupted following an independence referendum, during which many Croatian Serbs chose not to participate due to widespread boycotting. On June 25, 1991, the Croatian Parliament made the final decision to declare official independence.
In reaction, the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) declared its desire to secede from Croatia and affiliate with the Republic of Serbia, a step that was characterized by the Croatian administration as an act of rebellion.
Military units and paramilitary groups affiliated with the RSK started forcing Croats and other non-Serbs out of areas they controlled. At the same time, Serb civilians living in Croatian cities, especially those close to battle sites, experienced frequent incidents of intimidation and aggression.
On August 4, 1995, the Croatian Army, working alongside the 5th Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, launched Operation Storm. This operation was designed to recapture seized Croatian lands and lift the siege on the Bosnian town of Bihać, which is close to Croatia’s borders.
Approximately 200,000 Serbs were compelled to evacuate toward Serbia due to this military operation. While groups of Serbian civilians traveled through the town of Dvor, they faced relentless attacks from artillery and gunfire.
On August 7th, two MiG-21s—Soviet-era fighter jets—from the Croatian Air Force fired several rockets at refugee convoys along the Petrovac road near Bosanski Petrovac. This attack resulted in nine civilian fatalities and more than 50 people wounded, among whom were four children.
On August 8th, yet another refugee convoy fell victim to an artillery attack close to the village of Svodna, resulting in further harm to civilians.
Groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch denounced the attacks and mistreatment occurring during the operation.
Strained relationships among the Balkan neighbors
For quite some time, these two Balkan nations, which share a 241-kilometer border, have experienced strained relations.
Recently, Tonino Picula from the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, who serves as the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, visited Belgrade and wasn’t received enthusiastically. Although Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić declined to meet with him, various state officials did engage with Picula during his trip.
Recently, Picula criticized the Serbian government for not addressing the demands of protesters over the past few months. He stated, "We can say that Serbia is experiencing an unannounced state of emergency," as reported by Croatian media outlets.
"He maintains an ongoing state of emergency within himself, which he declared ages ago. This condition affects numerous individuals in Croatia as well," stated Vučić while visiting the Toplički and Jablanički districts in Vlasotince.
The Serbian Foreign Ministry called back its ambassador from Croatia last week; this was Jelena Milić, who had faced significant scrutiny and criticism from domestic media over recent weeks. There were suggestions in Croatian press that Belgrade might have withdrawn her due to fears she could be deemed persona non grata by Croatian officials otherwise.
The strained relationships become even more apparent through the limited number of state visits conducted by the leaders of both nations. Since assuming his role as Prime Minister in 2016, Croatia’s Andrej Plenković has made just one trip to Serbia, which was not considered an official state visit.
In 2023, Plenković traveled to the city of Subotica upon an invitation from the Croatian National Council in Serbia (HNV). During his visit, he had a short meeting with the then Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, though he did not encounter Vučić.
Aleksandar Vučić's most recent visit to Zagreb occurred in 2018 when he was invited by Croatia’s president at that time, Kolinda Grabar Kitarović.
In July 2022, Croatia prohibited the Serbian leader from making a private trip to Jasenovac — a site dedicated to remembering those who perished at the hands of the Ustasha concentration camps during World War II — where Serbs, Jews, and Roma people lost their lives.
The Croatian leadership viewed Vučić's visit as an act of provocation and insisted that all subsequent trips must be formally announced beforehand. In response, Serbia’s Foreign Ministry issued a formal protest note, which did not sit well with the Croatian embassy.