Commemoration held to mark the 34th anniversary of the Voćin massacre

The 34th anniversary of one of the most horrific war crimes committed by Serb and Yugoslav People's Army forces during the Homeland War was commemorated in the village of Voćin in Western Slavonia on Saturday. On December 13th 1991, Serb paramilitary forces murdered 47 innocent Croatian civilians.

The Voćin massacre was even more despicable given that many of the members of the Serb paramilitary unit that committed the heinous act were up until that moment the neighbors of Croatian civilians killed on the doorsteps of their homes. Additionally, overnight, between 13th and 14th of December, the Serb forces destroyed the village's 550-year-old late style gothic church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the use of explosive charges.

In memory of the victims, the 17th pilgrimage of Croatian veterans, the Croatian Armed Forces and police was held to the Church of "Our Lady of Voćin", where holy mass was served.

Speaking after today’s commemoration, the president of the Voćin branch of the Association of Volunteers and Veterans of the Homeland War, Darko Božičković, described what his unit uncovered when it finally entered his hometown: “When we made it into Voćin there wasn't a Croatian house in which someone hadn't been killed, massacred in the most brutal of ways. I lost my uncle and aunt, my aunt's mother, two cousins, three very close friends and my neighbor.”

Chief State Prosecutor Ivan Turudić was also on hand for today's commemoration, after which he commented on the fact that to this day, no one has been held accountable for this unprecedented war crime: “There were some proceedings that had been initiated before the county court in Bjelovar, and then subsequently in Zagreb. As you know 34 years have passed since this war crime was committed, so some of the suspects have already died of old age. The vast majority however, are beyond the reach of the Croatian judiciary as they are in Serbia and Serbia refuses to cooperate with us. We're not giving up, but we're not happy with the current situation, the victims have not received satisfaction and justice.”

Source: HRT