Marija Sliskovic – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Croatia: Stop Listening To Serbia – Listen To The Victims Of Her Aggression!

May 3, 2013 by inavukic 41 Comments

Borovo Selo Memorial Wall: “He Who Dies In Honesty – Lives Forever”

The events in Croatia during the past week should have marked the diary pages with pride, piety, dignified grieving for the lost lives, and a determined step forward in the direction of achieving final justice for the multitudes of war crimes’ victims, victims of the times of Serb aggression, and which justice includes due pursuits in achieving compensation for victims as well as public property such as buildings, utilities etc. Croatia was devastated by the onslaught of Serb aggression of 1990’s.

Instead of this, the visit to Croatia by Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, caused profound distress especially among those who were the closest to the horrors Serb aggression caused in Croatia during 1990’s. While developing bearable and civilised relations with Serbia is a good thing, in principle, it is not done at the expense of victims and justice they are owed. And this is exactly what was happening in Croatia during the past week.
The past week in Croatia marked:
• The 18th anniversary of the military operation “Flash”, which in 1995 liberated Croatia’s Western Slavonia from brutal Serb occupation. The purpose of the operation was to regain control of Okucani, the centre of the Serb insurgency and terrorist attacks in Western Slavonia. In less than 32 hours, 7,200 Croatian soldiers and policemen took control of 500 square kilometers of occupied territory, including the Zagreb-Lipovac motorway and the main railway line running from Zagreb to Eastern Slavonia. Forty-two Croatian soldiers and policemen were killed and 162 were wounded. (Operation Flash preceded Operation Storm, which followed three months later, when Croatia showed its determination to re-establish its sovereignty over its territory.)

• The 18th anniversary of ruthless surface-to-surface rocket attack against Zagreb by rebel Serbs who retaliated for the defeat they suffered as a result of operation “Flash”. Six people were killed in Zagreb, 39 seriously injured and another 136 received lesser injuries. The first explosions were heard around 10.23 a.m. on 2 May 1995 when several rockets were fired on downtown Zagreb. The rocketing a day later was directed at a children’s hospital, a retirement home and the national theatre building. Serb, Milan Martic was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for the attack on Zagreb and is currently serving a 35-year sentence.

• The 22nd anniversary when 12 police officers were killed and mutilated by Serb paramilitary forces in Borovo, eastern Croatia. The 12 men were killed in an ambush during the night between May 1 and 2, 1991 after they came to rescue two of their colleagues who had been captured by Serb paramilitaries while on regular patrol. Twenty-one policemen were wounded then.

• The visit to Croatia by Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, who during the times of Serb aggression against Croatia, while Serbs were killing Croatian and non-Serbs and ethnically cleansing of them areas in Croatia, spoke loud and clear that where there are about 20% of Serbs – that was Serbian country – places such as Karlobag, Ogulin, Karlovac, Virovitica … following is video footage of one of Vucic’s speeches in Belgrade, Serbia, during the Serb aggression in Croatia.

It is absolutely unforgivable that Croatia’s government allowed Vucic’s visit to occur in Croatia during the past week. Especially given that Vucic kept saying and reiterating that “the future is more important than the past!” He further said that “ 18 years has passed, the children have become adults. Prospect for development is more important than being buried in political trenches”.

At that point Croatia’s foreign minister Vesna Pusic should have turned towards him, saying:

“Stop! Stop right there!”

One might even be inclined to believe that Vucic bears sincere good wishes for the Croatian people, but when he went on about the importance of pensions in Croatia for Serbs and Serb’s tenancy rights – every hope that Vucic has turned a page away from Greater Serbia ideals has absolutely vanished. He is still the one who roots for the equation of aggressor with the victim – in every sense. He is still the one who wants the past forgotten so that Serbia does not have to answer for its crimes.

The past is important. It’s most important when justice for the victims has not been achieved. But then, it is in Serbia’s interests to bury the past which has not been reconciled. Croatia’s foreign minister Pusic was certainly not protecting the interests of Croatia nor its people by suggesting that a withdrawal of lawsuit against Serbia at the International Court of Justice for genocide might be on the books – if the question of the still missing persons was resolved.

For crying out loud – the lawsuit is not just about the missing persons, it’s about all of the victims.

Neither the government nor minister Pusic have the right to withdraw the court claim that was made in the name of all the victims, that was made because of the victims!

As to how Croatia’s victims feel about Vucic’s visit to Croatia and what transpired between him and Pusic may perhaps be best shown with the contents of the following open letter to Croatia’s Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic by some of the victims of Serb aggression.

“Respected Mrs Pusic,
At the beginning of your mandate in the government of the Republic of Croatia and after you took up the post at the head of the very important ministry, I sent you a request, asking you to hear the testimonies of raped women, victims of Serbia’s and Yugoslav People’s Army aggression against Croatia.

My wish was to provide you with an opportunity to obtain firsthand knowledge about the suffering of victims, especially women, at that time and which knowledge would, I thought, serve you well when as minister, you find yourself in the situation in which Croatia would be attempting to solve the question of war damages with the aggressor country.

You did not respond to our request, you remained without an insight into war happenings and you were, at the meeting with the government official of Serbia, in a totally inferior position. Minister Vucic stated that we need to look into the future, that love is not necessary for future relations, that problems of pensions and tenancy rights of the Serbian minority must be solved, strengthen economic cooperation. Mr Vucic knows exactly what he wants. He will not talk about the war, about the victims, occupation, war damages, the raped, the concentration camps prisoners. Serbia does not want to talk about the lack of its success in the war. It does not confront the consequences.

You, Mrs Pusic, stated that “if the question of the missing is solved, the conditions will be created for the withdrawal of the claim,” (against Serbia for genocide, at International Court of Justice, filed in 1999) as if you had completed a very significant job for the country and the people.

Why is the question about the missing the most important of all the victims of Serbia’s aggression against Croatia?

If the destroyed and devastated country, the killed, the imprisoned, the raped, the deported, about 400 children, have no value in the efforts for justice, compensation.

It’s every public official’s duty to protect the interests of the country and the people he/she represents.
Are you protecting the interests of raped women? Are you protecting their right to feel that their representatives are truly interceding on their behalf so that they may receive compensation for suffering through war horrors at the hands of those who came, armed to their teeth, and made them into war slaves. Try and imagine how it must be to live with the consequences of having had to live through this. How much strength is needed to raise a child, the fruit of someone from that horde.

The claim, I hope, includes their suffering and horrible ordeals. Or, are you pursuing good political relations without any consideration to the victims. The victims arose during the time when Croatia could not protect them with weapons. Today, when everything is being solved around a table why is Croatia not protecting those same victims. This is not a question of volition; it is a debt and the correction of former powerlessness.

I’m writing to you as a minister, more importantly as a woman, engage your efforts for the living, for those who had the fortune of surviving. The claim must be sustained for their rights. Real victims, not to be equated with the criminal. And the important feeling that justice is being sought and that the difference between aggression and defence is being established.

After all minister, politicians are transient. The people remain and the memory of the experiences remains. It is the responsibility of all of you who have taken over the government jobs to realise a just future. For peace’s sake.

I remain at your disposal to relay to you the true testimonies of the women victims of war.

With respect,
Marija Sliskovic, President, Women in Homeland War Association
Zagreb 30th April 2013”

Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Aleksander Vucic, Bombing of Zagreb, Borovo Selo, Croatia, genocide, International Court of Justice, Marija Sliskovic, Operation Flash, rape, Serbia, Vesna Pusic, war crimes, Women in Croatia's Homeland War

Convicted Serb rapists from Vukovar 1991 – flee Croatia

September 8, 2012 by inavukic 8 Comments

Women in Homeland War Association Croatia Photo: Ilustracija/Pixsell

This is the stuff horror movies are made of.

Only, horror movies are usually fiction.

It is incredulous that persons charged of mass rapes during the Serb aggression in Croatia (early 1990’s) are still allowed to roam the streets freely over almost two decades, while charges are being heard in criminal court and others obstructed. And, once they finally are convicted of the rapes, as charged, they “find” safe passage to flee Croatia, most likely to Serbia (reports the media).

If a charge for rape is brought against a person in the Western democratic countries, once arrested, that person remains behind bars and criminal proceedings in court continue. While bail can be granted I would argue that no person in the West ever charged with charges of mass/repeated rapes like the ones in Vukovar would ever convince a court to grant them bail.

To have two Serb rapists flee Vukovar in recent days and months after being charged or convicted in the first instance of rape is no accident, I dare say.

It is absolutely horrible to even contemplate that mass rapes could be taken so lightly by the authorities and rapists allowed to roam the streets where their battered, tortured and utterly humiliated victims walk.

Croatian news agency HINA reported September 7 that the president of Women in Homeland War Association, Marija Sliskovic, emphasised at press conference that victims of rape, as well as those who helped the victims, feel unsafe and are in fear of their lives due to the fact that convicted-in-the-first-instance rapists are free.

The Association has announced today that it will sue the State because, they claim, it has allowed Dusan Ivkovic (51), convicted of rape in occupied Vukovar 1991, to flee while the other convicted rapist Rade Ivkovic (59) fled immediately after charges were laid against him. (Reportedly the two Ivkovics are not related)

The president of Women in Homeland War Association, Marija Sliskovic, reminded that the court hearing against the two convicted rapists lasted ten years.

Rade Ivkovic, who was sentenced to eight years by the court in Vukovar on Monday, fled immediately after charges were laid, most likely to Serbia, and Dusan Ivkovic did that the day after his sentence was handed down in court ( he was present at hearings but not at sentencing), said Sliskovic.

“It’s horrible that he resided in Vukovar the day after the sentencing, where he could have hurt the victim, and us who helped her”, said Sliskovic.

Sliskovic said that she cannot comprehend why the police did not arrest him given that he was sentenced to five and half years.

“We’ll work out the details with our solicitor, but in any case, we are going ahead with the lawsuit against the Republic of Croatia,” said Sliskovic as she emphasized that the long court proceedings in this case as well as the fact that charged rapists are not remanded in custody but allowed to defend themselves while freely moving about town, and the fact that one has fled the country after being sentenced for rape prove that the Government institutions are not doing their job.

She also reminded that Dusan Ivkovic was a policeman under suspension, was in receipt of half his salary at all times, that the Police Union secured a solicitor for his defence while the victim of his rapes was left to fend for herself with only some help from the Women in Homeland War Association.

A pathetic record for Croatian authorities, indeed. It is difficult to comprehend why this is so.

Whether it has to do with politics of equating the victim with the aggressor it’s hard to say but certainly plausible. It is in someone’s interest to protect the Serb rapists as much as possible and I support any moves by the victims to compel the authorities into just actions even if it means suing the State.

Or, has the internationally fired push for reconciliation between Croatia’s Serbs and Croatians gone so very, very wrong that it ignores the basic human rights of victims of rapes to justice and the non-negotiable process where the perpetrator must be punished for his crimes?

Whatever the case this madness and thorough injustice towards rape victims must stop.

…

April 2012 “Two decades after many of the worst atrocities were committed in the 1991-95 war, Croatian victims of rape and sexual violence are still awaiting justice, recognition, and support. This was the conclusion of a roundtable organized in Vukovar on 3 April by the United Nations (UN) in Croatia and the City of Vukovar, with support from the Office of the President of Croatia. The event was organized to draw attention to the plight of rape survivors and mobilize state authorities and civil society to redouble their efforts to punish the perpetrators and respond to the needs of the victims. Croatia’s experience was set in a broader context by the American playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who issued a rallying cry for a global crusade to fight all discrimination and violence against women…”

Nothing has changed; nothing has improved for the victims of rape in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. So it’s high time the victims call the authorities to account, demand justice, demand protection. If it means taking the Government to court – so be it! No mercy should be afforded to any such obviously rotten and irresponsible actions or omissions by the authorities (be it only local ones in Vukovar, if not higher ones in the country’s governmental headquarters) who let the brutal beasts walk. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Croatia, Marija Sliskovic, rape, Serb rape camps, Vukovar, Women in Homeland War Association

International Women’s Day: A Tribute to the courage of Croatian women victims of mass rapes

March 7, 2012 by inavukic 12 Comments

“SUNČICA/ SUNNY” – is a recently published book in Croatia, edited by Marija Sliskovic, that contains testimonies of interned (imprisoned) women against whom the war crimes of rape were committed, covered up, and to this day not brought before the criminal courts. It’s about the crime that was part of the war strategy of Serbian and Yugoslav Army aggression against Croatia in the 1990’s.

“Sunny was only eight months old when she was taken with her mother in occupied Vukovar (1991). Her mother was locked in a flat like a slave for rape. Sunny did not know what they were doing to her mother, she cried because she needed her mother for herself. Serbian soldiers raping her mother were annoyed by Sunny’s cries so they threw heavy army coats over her. By some miracle Sunny did not suffocate under the heavy coats, she survived. Sunny is strong, she survived the occupiers’ heavy attire and survives the cover-up of crimes against her and her mother today. Croatia is woven from the strength of many Sunnys.”

Victim of war crimes Ružica Erdelji:

Transcript from video testimony September 2011 above (Ruzica’s testimony starts at 0.31 sec on video:

“I am Ruzica Erdelji, maiden name Barbaric, Croatian – Herzegovinian. I was born 11 January 1951 in Grabovo near Vukovar.

I spent the war in Vukovar, at Olajnica, building 15, in the corridor of third floor, without any living conditions, without water, food, in fear. Hungry in 21^st Century. We waited for freedom. With the arrival Chetnik occupator, for me and many Croatians the Way of the Cross commenced, and many have never returned from that Way of the Cross.

We had to surrender to the Chetniks, they led us through the city, on the bridge Jelica Jankovic was kissing with the Chetniks, she tells them by name and surname who needs to be killed. Those people are no longer alive, and she proudly strolls through Vukovar.

They transport us on buses to Velepromet. As soon as I got out of the bus, they separated Serbs to one and Croatians to the other side. Branka Janjetovic comes and writes me in under number 477. My neighbor comes soon, Pero Krtinic, points to me as a Croatian and hands me over to the Chetniks, while I hoped he would help me. They take me into the carpentry building. Sladjana Korda is at the door, takes by force everything I had, and I had about 30,000 German Marks and gold jewelery. She ripped my leather jacket looking for money, she took everything and pushed me into the carpentry room.

There Hell, at nine thirty at night a Chetnik nicknamed Topola from Velepromet takes me out and drags me through streets of Vukovar. He says he’s taking me to interrogation. It’s night, I don’t know where I am, he forces me into a house and then into a room, Chetnik headquarters are in that house. He, armed, ripped everything off my body and raped me all night while gunfire went on outside. A man was crying in the next room.

In the morning he takes me to another room, several of them there, rape again. Then a Chetnik comes and he takes me upstairs, to a children’s room. Rape again, torment. After he had finished tormenting me, he takes me to the ground floor, where another Chetnik named Zmigo awaits. Holding batons and rifle he takes me to the next room, Arkan’s men are there. Again rape, one after the other, I felt humiliation, I felt repulsed at myself, dirty, unkempt. They chased me out, and there Zmigo waited, takes me away as war trophy, me as if a little Ustashe. Along the way we meet Ilija Macura, I thought he’ll help me, but he pretended he did not know me. He was in army uniform, today he works as delivery man for the police.

Zmigo takes me to the cellar of a house across the street from Textile school, he too rapes me all night. In the morning he takes me to a Chetnik leader, Lancizanin from Vukovar, nicknamed Kameni. He sends me to Velepromet, to judge me there. And again carpentry building with Sladjana Korda. She kicked me into a room, it was the room of death. I, the only woman among men. Vukovar men dressed in Chetnik uniforms came there all the time, they beat us and dragged people out who never returned. Next night they take us out in buses to army barracks. They beat us there and force us to sleep on concrete.

If we needed to go to the toilet there had to be 10 of us. When we finally reach the toilet, you cannot relax from fear, as armed Chetnik stands beside us. One day we had to clean the army barracks, we were humiliated, shamed, dirty. Come Stanimirovic, Dokmanovic and Hadzic, spit on us and ask what we are doing on holy Serbian ground. Stanimirovic now receives a parliamentary wage, while I live on 1, 775 Kunas pension after 35 years of work.

After all those tortures and torments, 29^th November 1991 we are transported to Sremska Mitrovica, and on 12^th December we were exchanged. Never had anyone asked how I am, do I need help. I’ve been treated at psychiatric wards in Cakovec, Zagreb and Vukovar. Noone lent me a hand of consolation.

Thank you to everyone who supports us in this painful journey of truth, because the truth must be known. “

“Sunny” has become a strong movement in Croatia during recent months with courageous women finally breaking the social and intimate barriers that occur in cases of rape, and have come out: speaking of their suffering, pointing their fingers at and naming the Serb war criminals, perpetrators of mass rapes over Croatian women during Croatia’s war of Independence. To take their courage further they have begun arriving at the office of the State Prosecutor, giving their testimonies, providing evidence of war crimes – with great expectations that the perpetrators be finally brought to justice.

Marija Sliskovic

Marija Sliskovic, also the president of the “Women in Homeland War” Association said last month in Croatia: “Those who had perpetrated those crimes must face their evi deeds,” adding that in the opposite case the criminals will think they’ve done something that’s not punishable”.

“It’s a known fact that there were even camps for the implementation of mass rapes into which fertile women of non-Serbian origins were broughtvand raped. They would be released only when they were highly pregnant, too risky for termination of pregnancy. There is no doubt that this approach to women contributed to ethnic cleansing of the areas as women who experienced this most often did not want to remain in these areas in order to avoid seeing their rapists (and these were often their first neighbours) and to be constantly reminded of the horrible memories.

Women of Vukovar also experienced hell on earth when in 1991 Chetnik paramilitary units together with Yugoslav Peoples Army occupied the city. In that they kept many non-Serb women in Vukovar, imprisoned them in houses and committed over them pathological perversions that only sick minds can imagine. It’s enough to mention that the youngest female person whom these maniacs tormented was six, and the oldest eighty years old.”

The courageous women of Croatia are pursuing war criminals that have escaped justice up until now. Their plights for justice had in the past fell on deaf ears; rapes were covered up, rapists set free, some fled Croatia after the war only to be returned to Croatia under the EU push to repatriate Serb “refugees” back into Vukovar/Croatia.

No more cover-ups if these women, victims, get their way. Besides approaching the State Prosecutor’s office they are spreading their intention to reap justice to the Croatian foreign minister, EU Ambassador to Croatia, Members of Croatian Parliament for Serb Minorities…

As a woman, I stand in awe and admiration before such courage.

There is no doubt in my mind that many these heinous rape crimes have been covered-up and “overlooked” for political reasons that point to external pressures against Croatia not to “ruffle too many feathers against Serbs” if it wants to be in EU! Well, it’s about time that Croatian government and institutions step up and shout out loudly in securing justice for it’s women victims of mass rapes. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A.,M.A,Ps.(Syd)