- Škabrnja massacre
Škabrnja massacre ( _hr. Masakr u Škabrnji) was a
war crime [ [http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pr1162e.htm Summary of judgement: the case of Milan Martić] ] , atrocities committed by Serb forces during theCroatian War of Independence . OnNovember 18 ,1991 ,Serb paramilitaries, supported by theJNA , captured the village ofŠkabrnja (also: "Škabrnje") and killed 25 Prisoners of war and 61 civilians over the next several days. [ [http://arhiv.slobodnadalmacija.hr/20031119/novosti02.asp hr icon Slobodna Dalmacija news article on commemoration] ]Before the massacre
According to the
census of 1991, Škabrnja (nearZadar ) was inhabited by 1,953 people in 397 households, the vast majority wereCroats , noSerbs were recorded to live in the settlement. When the Croatian Serbs rebelled during the Croatian War of Independence, aiming to formRepublic of Serbian Krajina , Škabrnja found itself surrounded by Serb-inhabitedvillage s.As
Croatian Army forces had been formed by villagers since October, the larger and more numerousYugoslav People's Army andparamilitary forces approached them. On November 18, the Serbian forces fired mortars on Škabrnja [ [http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pr1162e-summary.htm Sentence judgement: the case of Milan Martić] ] , and soon invaded it witharmored vehicle s and tanks. They destroyed one APC and one tank, but the entire JNAbattalion of thirty motorized units assaulted from two directions (one from Zemunik Gornji in the northwest and another from Biljane in the southeast) and soon overran the defenders.The massacre
The Serbian paramilitaries entered the hamlet of
Ambar and all prisoners, and then proceeded to the center of Škabrnja where they committed more acts of murder and taking some civilians as prisoners. In that one day, 43 civilians and 15 Croatian soldiers were killed, and numerous houses were destroyed.Over the next couple of days, the murder count rose to 86, and much of the village was burnt and
demolished . One group of 26 civilians was buried in amass grave near the center of the village.Trials for the massacre
The
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia indictedMilan Babić andMilan Martić for these atrocities, naming 38 civilian victims in Škabrnja (in addition to others in surrounding villages and elsewhere).In a local Croatian Court, 18 were sentenced in 1995 for the massacre. A re-trial seems possible. [ [http://www.jutarnji.hr/clanak/art-2007,5,7,skabrnja_sudjenje,73398.jl hr icon Jutarnji List: Škabrnja retrial possible] ]
References
External links
* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/HR/0/Skabrnje.html Geographical position of Škabrnja]
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