Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on Tuesday pledged that the government would do its utmost to shed light on the fate of 999 people still unaccounted-for since the Homeland Defence War, adding that "a key to the solution of this issue" lies in Belgrade.
Addressing an event which was organised by the federation of associations of families of missing and detained Croatian soldiers in Petrinja on the International Day of the Disappeared, which is observed on August 30, Kosor said that at the very beginning of the aggression thousands of people went missing, with 7,666 people having been found so far.
As many as 143 multiple graves and 1,200 individual graves with innocent victims have been unearthed so far.
She also said that during their talks with Serbian representatives, Croatian officials must insist on documents and data which could help in the search for the missing civilians and soldiers. According to her, the documentation given back to Vukovar from Serbia a few months ago proves again that Croatia was exposed to a horrendous aggression.
Drago Matanovic, who addressed the event as Croatian President Ivo Josipovic's envoy, said that the brutal aggression against Croatia "was particularly evident in the persecution of and crimes against civilians, when there was no mercy either for children or the elderly."
Matanovic called on international institutions, Serbia and the local population in the formerly occupied Croatian areas to help establish what happened with the missing people by providing information they had about the events in the war.
The head of the above-mentioned federation, Ljiljana Alvir, urged Serbia to provide documentation pertaining to the disappeared people.
The solution to the issue of the missing people is of crucial importance for the development of coexistence in formerly occupied areas, Alvir said.
