Commemorative events including Mass and wreath-laying ceremonies were held on Friday in Skabrnja to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of this village in the Zadar hinterland into the hands of Serb rebels supported by the then Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), when tens of villagers and defenders were killed.
General Slavko Baric, the envoy of Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, who was prevented by fog from flying from Vukovar to Skabrnja, read out the speech which the Croatian head of state prepared for this central commemorative event in Skabrnja.
Gen. Baric, the deputy chief of staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, said that Vukovar and Skabrnja were bywords for the suffering of the Croatian people in the Homeland Defence War.
"Those atrocities were unprecedented. The perpetrators in Vukovar and Skabrnja were merciless. The wounds are too deep and difficult to heal. The conviction of the perpetrators could not heal the wounds but could alleviate them," said Baric.
He added that Ratko Mladic and other war criminals must be brought to justice.
On 18 November 1991, members of the JNA and Serb paramilitaries, backed by planes, tank units and infantry of the JNA Knin Corps, commanded by Ratko Mladic, broke the resistance of poorly armed Croatian forces in Skabrnja. Forty-three Croatian civilians and 15 soldiers were killed in the village and during its subsequent occupation, which lasted until the 1995 Croatian army and police operation "Storm", the number of Skabrnja victims rose to 86. Another six villagers were killed by leftover mines after the war.
Addressing the commemoration, Minister Bozidar Kalmeta, who arrived in Skabrnja as Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor's envoy, said that the occupying forces had not succeeded in their plans as the love of Croatians for their homes and homeland had been stronger.
The wartime commander of the Skabrnja defending units, Marko Miljanic, recalled that many criminals had not yet been held to account for the Skabrnja atrocities.
"They say that General Ante Gotovina excessively shelled Knin, but I tell you that every day from 1 October 1991 to 18 November 1991, more shells hit Skabrnja per day than the number that fell on Knin, Gracac, Benkovac and Obrovac on the aggregate during the entire Operation Storm," Miljanic said.
However, General Gotovina is in The Hague to answer for Operation Storm, while Ratko Mladic will not answer for Skabrnja. Who is to blame? Our judiciary and the people that pursued our policy and diplomacy, he added.
