Anja Vladisavljević, Author at Detektor

Years after the 1990s wars, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia have continued to slowly prosecute wartime crimes – but with increasing numbers of ageing suspects falling ill or dying, it’s likely that some cases will never see verdicts.

Police said they are investigating after a Facebook post by the Serb mayor of Croatia’s Borovo municipality described the Croatian Army’s 1995 Operation Storm, which defeated rebel Serb forces and sparked a refugee exodus, as a crime.

Croatian officials reacted indignantly after state prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina reportedly asked Zagreb if its judiciary can prosecute Croatian wartime generals for crimes allegedly committed during the Croatian Army’s Operation Flash in 1995.

While top officials in Croatia celebrated the 26th anniversary of the country’s military victory over rebel Serbs in Operation Storm, their counterparts in Serbia lamented the consequences of a 'policy of extermination'.

After Croatia’s victory over rebel Serbs in Operation Storm in August 1995, President Franjo Tudjman set off on a triumphalist cross-country railway journey, staging celebratory rallies along the way - with harsh words for the refugees who fled.

This week, while Croatia celebrates its victory in 1995’s Operation Storm and Serbia mourns the victims, nationalists on both sides will be seeking to profit politically from one of the war’s most traumatic events, says sociologist Marijana Stojcic.

Pero Vincetic, a former Bosnian Croat fighter charged with war crimes in the northeastern Bosnian town of Orasje in 1992, died on Sunday aged 53.

The Supreme Court upheld a verdict sentencing a former Croatian soldier to ten years in prison for killing three Serb civilians, all members of the same family, after the Croatian Army's Operation Storm in 1995.

An organisation representing Croatia’s Serb minority reported that far-right activists are protesting against an event commemorating the anniversary of an anti-fascist uprising in the village of Srb in 1941.

Many women have told BIRN about violence, verbal abuse and negligence during childbirth in Central and Eastern Europe. But very few felt able to seek justice.

Anja Vladisavljević

Cases Closed: Deaths of Ageing Balkan War Suspects Thwart Justice

Croatian Police Probe Serb Mayor for Calling Operation Storm a ‘Crime’

Bosnia’s Proposal to Prosecute Croatian Generals Sparks Controversy

Croatia Celebrates Anniversary of ‘Storm’ Victory; Serbia Mourns Victims

Tudjman’s ‘Freedom Train’: Celebrating Croats’ Victory and Serbs’ Exodus

‘Nationalists Want to Convince Croats and Serbs They Can’t Coexist’

Bosnian Croat Charged with War Crimes Dies in Croatia

Croatia Upholds Soldier’s Conviction for Killing Serb Family in 1995

Croatian Right-Wingers Seek to Disrupt WWII Uprising Anniversary

Childbirth Often Traumatic in CEE, But Few Women Seek Redress

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