“On 2nd May 1991 in Borovo Selo Serbian terrorists slyly and cruelly from ambush committed a massacre and war crime against wounded and captured members of the Special Police Forces of the Republic of Croatia”
At the beginning of May 1991 Serb rebel terrorists from Borovo Selo (Vukovar area) tortured and wounded and placed in captivity two Croatian policemen. The Croatian government quickly sent a convoy of special police whose task was to rescue the two policemen and restore order.
Serbs ambushed the convoy as it entered the village, killing 12 policemen and wounding 21. When the Croatian police retreated, Serb rebels mutilated the dead bodies of Croatian policemen with axes and knives.
Ambulance vehicles from Vukovar hospital arrived soon to the horrible scene. But some Ambulance vehicles had Serbian crews who on arrival started throwing hand grenades on wounded Croatian policemen.
The road to a terrible war was opened – the rebel Serbs, soon joined by the Serbian-led Yugoslav People’s Army, were never going to accept Croatia’s secession from communist Yugoslavia and Croatia’s independence.
Borovo Selo massacres had shown to what heinous ways the Serb rebels were prepared to go in achieving their goal.
On 2nd May 2012 a dignified procession through Borovo Selo carrying the new memorial plaque for the monument to the massacred Croatian policemen marked the 21st anniversary of the massacre. Silence, the stone plaque and photographs of the massacred policemen marked the event, stirring profound emotions of sadness and pain.
Croatian news portal Vecernji List reports that in his speech at the commemoration Stevo Culej, deputy commander of the Association of special police whose brother was killed on that day in 1991, rebuked the Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and President Ivo Josipovic for not being present at the commemoration.
The surviving members of the special police force have placed the plaque of truth at the foot of the existing monument to the 12 massacred policemen.
The stone plaque on truth has the following inscription:
“On 2nd May 1991 in Borovo Selo Serbian terrorists slyly and cruelly from ambush committed a massacre and war crime against wounded and captured members of the Special Police Forces of the Republic of Croatia”
“This crime was committed by residents of Borovo Selo, and not by some being from Outer Space. I remind, only one person has been convicted for this crime so far, and he only got 3,5 years of prison. Nevertheless, their sacrifice has not been in vein because every one of their lives had saved tens of thousands of other lives, as people had realised what will happen to them if they don’t undertake anything”, Culej accentuated, calling upon Ranko Ostojic, minister of internal affairs, to continue with the investigations started by his predecessor Tomislav Karamarko, Tomislav Karamarko is a leading candidate in the current election campaigns for President of Croatian Democratic Union.
The Borovo Selo massacre of 2 May 1991 was one of the first “military” engagements that led to the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia. The massacre set the stage for the subsequent outbreak of the wars in former Yugoslavia (particularly Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). Majority of Croatia’s Serb minority was opposed to Croatian independence; opposed to democracy and freedom.
The 12 Croatian policemen massacred in Borovo Selo in 1991 lost their lives for democracy and freedom. One would think that these Croatian first victims of Serb brutality in Croatia’s path to freedom and democracy deserved the presence of the Prime Minister and the President at the 21st anniversary commemoration. But neither Zoran Milanovic nor Ivo Josipovic found time to attend. Perhaps they were tired from dishing out bean soup to 1st May Labour Day revelers in parks of Zagreb the day before. 1st of May was a big public holiday in communist Yugoslavia. It’s still a public holiday in Croatia but not as celebrated with red scarves around the neck and Partisan hats on the head as before. Perhaps Milanovic and Josipovic want to bring back the former Yugoslav ways and that’s why they didn’t attend the commemoration in Borovo Selo? In any case their absences from Borovo Selo as well as from the 17th anniversary of Operation Flash that liberated Western Slavonia from Serb occupation certainly raises a great deal of questions as to their motives and loyalties. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)