The Gošić kllings refers to the mass murder of elderly Serb civilians from the village of Gošić in

Šibenik-Knin County Šibenik-Knin County (; ) is a county in southern Croatia, located in the north-central part of Dalmatia. The biggest city in the county is Šibenik, which also serves as county seat. Other notable towns in the county are Knin, Vodice, Drniš a ...

by members of the

Croatian Army The Croatian Army ( or HKoV) is the land force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It is numerically the largest of the three branches of the Croatian Armed Forces. The HKoV is the main force for the defense of the country against external threa ...

(HV) on 27 August 1995, approximately three weeks after

Operation Storm Operation Storm ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Operacija Oluja, separator=" / ", Операција Олуја) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory f ...

Background

By March 1991, tensions between Croats and Serbs escalated into the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

. Following a referendum on independence that was largely boycotted by Croatian Serbs, the Croatian parliament officially adopted independence on 25 June. The Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK) declared its intention to

secede Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the c ...

from Croatia and join the

Republic of Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

while the

Government of the Republic of Croatia The Government of Croatia (), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia (), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government (), is the main executive branch of government in Croatia. It is led by the Prime Minister of Croatia, president o ...

declared it a rebellion. 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, eventually expelling as many as 250,000 people according to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

. Croatian forces also engaged in ethnic cleansing against Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina on a more limited scale. On 4 August 1995, the Croatian Army (HV) launched

to retake the Krajina region which was completed successfully by 7 August. 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. The

ICTY The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribun ...

puts the number of Serb civilians killed at 324.

Killings

8 of the 12 remaining Serb villagers in the village of Gošić were shot and killed on 27 August 1995. The identified victims were 80-year old Milka Borak, 56-year old Dusan Borak, 77-year old Kosovka Borak, 70-year old Grozdana Borak, 75-year old Vasilj Borak, 81-year old Marija Borak and 70-year old Sava Borak. In October 1995, UN human rights workers matched the names of the five victims to names on crosses in the Knin cemetery. A memorial bearing the names of the eight victims was later added to the village. In August 2019, the deputy leader of the Serbian National Council read a traditional statement of commemoration next to the memorial for the 24th anniversary of Operation Storm.

Legal proceedings

The Croatian authorities publicly acknowledged the murders following the disclosure of the Varivode massacre. On 18 October 1995, the Croatian Interior Minister announced that they had arrested thirteen persons suspected of having committed crimes in the villages of Gošić and Varivode. A combined trial for murders in the villages of Varivode, Gošić and

Zrmanja Zrmanja (, ) is a river in southern Lika and northern Dalmatia, Croatia. It is long and its basin covers an area of . It was known to the ancient Romans as ''Tedanius''. The spring of Zrmanja is located in southern part of Lika under Postak - th ...

was held and six former Croatian Army officers were found not guilty. The soldiers were Ivan Jakovljević, Pero Perković, Neđeljko Mijić, Zlatko Ladović, Ivica Petrić and Nikola Rašić. Petrić however was found guilty and sentenced to six years for the murder of a civilian in the village of Zrmanja and Rašić was sentenced to a year in prison for attempted robbery and the attempted murder of a civilian in the municipality of Knin. The killings in the village were also included in the

's indictment of former Croatian general

Ante Gotovina Ante Gotovina (born 12 October 1955) is a Croatian retired lieutenant general and former French senior corporal who served in the Croatian War for Independence. He is noted for his primary role in the 1995 Operation Storm. In 2001, the Intern ...

. In the appeal of the trial of Gotovina et al which acquitted Gotovina and

Mladen Markač Mladen Markač (; born 8 May 1955) is a Croatian retired general. He was a Commander of Croatian Special Police during Operation Storm during the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995), and afterwards held the rank of Colonel General. Later, ...

, the

ruled that there was insufficient evidence to conclude the existence of a

joint criminal enterprise Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine that has been used during war crimes tribunals to prosecute individuals in a group for the actions of said group. This doctrine considers each member of an organized group individually respons ...

to remove Serb civilians by force. The Appeals Chamber further stated that the Croatian Army and Special Police committed crimes after the artillery assault, but the state and military leadership had no role in their planning and creation.

References

{{reflist 1995 in Croatia Massacres in 1995 Croatian war crimes in the Croatian War of Independence Massacres of Serbs History of the Serbs of Croatia August 1995 in Europe Massacres in the Croatian War of Independence