The Kijani killings refers to the mass murder of elderly Serb civilians from the village of
Kijani near the town of
Gračac by members of the
Croatian Army (HV) during and following
Operation Storm.
By March 1991, tensions between Croats and Serbs escalated into the
Croatian War of Independence.[2] Following a
referendum on independence that was largely boycotted by Croatian Serbs,[3] the Croatian parliament officially adopted independence on 25 June.[4] The
Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK) declared its intention to
secede from Croatia and join the
Republic of Serbia while the
Government of the Republic of Croatia declared it a rebellion.[5] Between August 1991 and February 1992, the RSK initiated an ethnic cleansing campaign to drive out the Croat and non-Serb population from RSK-held territory,[6] eventually expelling as many as 250,000 people according to
Human Rights Watch.[7] Croatian forces also engaged in ethnic cleansing against Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina on a more limited scale.[8] On 4 August 1995, the Croatian Army (HV) launched
Operation Storm to retake the Krajina region which was completed successfully by 7 August.[9] The Operation resulted in the exodus of approximately 200,000 Serbs from Krajina while those Serbs who were unable or unwilling to leave their homes, primarily the elderly, were subjected to various crimes.[10] The
ICTY puts the number of Serb civilians killed at 324.[11]
Killings
According to reports, at least 14 Serb civilians were killed in the village of Kijani near the town of Gračac, in the aftermath of Operation Storm. The victims included nine women.[12] The youngest was 50 years old and the oldest was 90.[13] According to testimonies for the
International Court of Justice by villagers who managed to hide in a forest, women were raped and at least one victim was beheaded.[13][14]
Trial
In 2014, Rajko Kričković, an ex-soldier was indicted by Croatia for the murder of three of the civilians.[15] He was accused of shooting 73-year-old Mara Sovilj and her 43-year-old son Radomir, and killing his 45-year-old sister Mira by burning her alive in their house.[16] In 2019, Kričković was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Rijeka County Court in Croatia.[17]
^Bassiouni, Mahmoud Cherif; Manikas, Peter (1996). The Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Transnational Publishers. p. 86.
ISBN978-1-57105-004-5.