In accordance with the Security Council Resolution 780 of October 5, 1992, item 1, Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia hereby submits the new - the seventh consecutive - Report on Cases of Violation of International War and Humanitarian Law in the Territory of the Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

This is the fifth Report prepared by the Committee for Compiling Data on Crimes Against Humanity and International Law, entrusted with determining all the relevant facts pertaining to the armed conflicts and acts of violence in the parts of territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where serious violations of international war and humanitarian law have been committed.

The seventh Report presents 171 cases of violation of the international humanitarian conventions and international war law in the period from the beginning of the war conflicts in the parts of territory of the former SFR of Yugoslavia. They are the new cases, and in one number of them new and additional evidence is provided for the cases which were already presented in the previous Reports.

Data in question was collected by the teams of the Committee working on the ground and through the testimony of witness deposited with the competent judicial authorities. In the elaboration of data, further to the experts of the Committee, experts on forensic medicine and other specialists were also engaged.

Data represents a summery of the extensive documentation kept with the Committee, which may be used in the procedure preceding judicial determination of facts. Given in this form, they are intended for informing of the world and local public.

In accordance with the methodology applied so far, the Seventh Report is structured according to the category (designation) of crime.

From the presented cases - 40 of them refer to Willful killing of civilians, 20 to Willful killing of detainee and prisoners of war, 11 to Inhuman treatment of civilians, 40 to Inhuman treatment of detainee and prisoners of war, 10 to Willful killing and inhuman treatment of sick and wounded, 12 to Taking of hostages and setting up of prison camps, 4 to Destruction of civilian structures without military necessity, 4 to Destruction of places of worship, cemeteries, cultural and historical monuments and 30 cases to the Ethnic cleansing.

In the Report, when charges are made against the Croat side, further to the data pertaining to crimes committed by the Croat Army and police forces in Krajina, in the UN protected Sectors South and North (special supplement and presentation of individual cases), new data is given on the crimes committed in the area of Masicka Sagovina and Paulin Dvor (the well known cases of mass killing of civilians after the attack of Croat military formations and conquest of these Serbian villages), as well as data on the killing of civilians in Okucani, Sibenik, Tenja, Osijek and Zagreb.

Characteristic cases were also presented of criminal acts of willful killing of detainee and prisoners of war, inhuman treatment of civilians and inhuman treatment of detainee - prisoners of war. These crimes were a largely applied form of violation of the international humanitarian law by the Croat military and police forces (in the prison camps - in Split "Lora, in Zagreb Kerestinec, Rakitje - Samobor, etc.) with full knowledge of the command and political and state leadership of the Republic of Croatia.

A number of cases were presented of the destruction of civilians structures of Serbs without military necessity in the area of Imotsko (where Serbs before the civil war were an outstanding minority) and in the area of Gospic.

Further to the presentation of ethnic cleansing in Krajina, new data is provided of the cases of ethnic cleansing in Zadar, Rijeka, Split, Sibenik, Sinj, Osijek and vicinity (Tenja, Ada), Sisak, Zagreb, Gospic and Petrinja, and for individual cases of expulsion of Serbs from Croatia, which all together indicate at the direct culpability of the highest Croat authorities.

*

A separate enclosure contains "Information on the war crimes committed by members of the Croat Army against Serbian civilian population of Western Slavonia, on the highway Okucani-Stara Gradiska, on May 1 and 2, 1995". It contains testimonies of witnesses and data on Serbian civilians killed by the members of the Croat military formations and police forces during the invasion on Western Slavonia (individual cases were presented also in the Sixth Report).

Together with this Report, a separate enclosure is submitted entitled "Crimes of Croat Military and Police Forces in Krajina", which contains presentation of violations of the war law and violations of the international humanitarian conventions by the Croat military and police forces during and after the attack on the Republic of Serbian Krajina in August of 1995, when new crimes were committed against Serbs, especially killing of civilians, destruction and demolition of civilian structures, mass expulsion of Serbian civilian population, attacks on convoys of refugees and other crimes, all in the function of genocide.

Upon seizure of Krajina, members of the Croat Army systematically plundered property of Serbs, then mined and burnt down houses and other buildings of Serbian population, and systematically killed all those who did not succeed in escaping, among them mostly aged and sick.

On the basis of the data and evidence collected so far, bearing in mind how systematic and planned were the military and police actions against Serbs and their aim and consequences (exile of over 200,000 persons from their centuries-old homes), it may be stated with justification that Croat military and police forces in Krajina committed the crime of genocide against Serbs.

The act of invasion on Krajina in early August of 1995 is the continuation of the Croat policy and action of ethnic cleansing of Croatia from Serbs, which with a higher intensity started to be executed immediately following the multi-party elections in 1991, and was continued through the forcible secession of Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Through the previously well planned military, police and other actions, starting with the year 1991 (Medacki dzep, Miljevacki plato, Maslenica, Western Slavonia, Knin Krajina, etc.), and intimidation of long-standing through various types of pressure, including killing, over 500,000 Serbs were expelled from Croatia.

The result of the overall actions of Croatia has reduced the total number of Serbian population in Croatia, from some 12% as was their percentage before the civil war according to the official Croat statistics, to some 2-3%.

In the meantime, Croatia is adjusting its legislature in the field of human rights to the new situation in its interior inter-ethnic structure and together with the other measures and actions, performs ‘legalization’ of the ethnic cleansing, without precedent in the contemporary world.

The Report presents for the area of the so-called Bosnia-Herzegovina the data on Willful killing of civilians in Brcko, Visoko (village of Kolosici), Visegrad, Gorazde (village of Bukvica), Zivinice, Zvornik, Zenica, Milici, Mostar, Rogatica (village of Mislovo), Sanski Most, Sarajevo (Blazuj), Sokolac, Trnovo, Tuzla, Han Pijesak (surrounding villages), Capljina and other places. (Data is submitted for over 100 killed persons - Serbs).

Data on the cases of Willful killing of detainee - prisoners of war are given for Sarajevo (prison camp in the former military barracks of the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army) "Viktor Bubanj" - "Ramiz Salcin", prison camp "Sunce" (Sun), prison camp in Hrasnica), Konjic, Banovici, etc. Data is submitted for 65 killed persons.

A number of cases were presented of Willful killing and inhuman treatment of sick and wounded (Sarajevo - Dobrovoljacka Street, Kosevo Hospital, Dobrinja, Brcko, etc. as well as a number of cases of Inhuman treatment of civilians and inhuman treatment of detainee - prisoners of war - Mostar, Konjic, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Brcko, Zivinice, Gorazde, Brod (bosanski), etc.

Taking of hostages and setting up of prison camps is a crime which was committed many times, and data is submitted for the cases in the area of Mostar, Konjic, Sarajevo, Zenica and Brcko. Criminal acts of Destruction of places of worship, cemeteries, cultural and historical monuments were presented through cases in Capljina, near Brcko and in Visegrad (destruction of the monument to the Nobel Prize laureate Ivo Andric).

Crimes of Ethnic cleansing are presented in the Report through cases in the area of Brcko, in Sarajevo, Banovici, Orasje, Gorazde, Zenica, Bogdol (vicinity of Mostar), in Mostar and in the Municipality of Srebrenik.

Basic data on ethnic cleansing is given for the area of Brcko, which consisted of an organized killing, detention in prison camps and expulsion of Serbs by the military and police formations of the HVO (Croat Defense Council) of Bosnian Posavina in the year 1992 when from 19 villages a total of 1,456 households with 5,588 inhabitants were ethnically cleansed. A list containing names of 375 perpetrators of these crimes is also enclosed.

Data is also submitted (IV-236) on the visits to the prison camp for Serbs in Celebici by Alija Izetbegovic with his closest associates, at the time when the prison camp administration was committing mass killings, inhuman treatment and torture in the camp, which is presented in detail in the special enclosure entitled "Celebici - Prison Camp for Serbs".

In this enclosure, in a systematic and orderly way, concrete facts are given - data and description of crimes, names and other information about persons for whom there are grounds for suspicion of having committed the crimes, as well as the other relevant facts.

Prison camp Celebici is described in detail, from its setting up until its closure, and especially the manner of ‘admission’ of the detainee, their treatment, medical ‘assistance’ and conditions of life in the prison camp.

Special description is given of the mass torture, forms of torture of the inmates by the prison camp staff and cases of killing. Data is also provided on the rape of women in the prison camp and other facts.

This enclosure also contains data on the visit to the camp by Alija Izetbegovic, given in the Report. Although individual in itself, this fact points out at the direct culpability of the highest political and state leadership of the so-called Bosnia-Herzegovina for the violation of the international humanitarian conventions and the war law in the civil war in former Bosnia-Herzegovina.

*

The Report contains special "Information on war crimes committed by the members of the Croat Army against Serbian civilian population on the highway Srbobran-Jajce on September 13, 1995". Members of the Croat Army made attacks in the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the civilians moving from Srbobran (Doni Vakuf) towards Jajce and Banja Luka. The Information contains testimonies of witnesses and data on the killed Serbian civilians.

* * * * * * * * * * * *