Croatia continues to search for 1 744 people missing from the Serbian aggression

August 30th is the International Day of Missing Persons and the Day of Remembrance for Missing Persons from the Homeland War. A commemoration was held in Sinj on Saturday to honor all the deceased, murdered and missing Croatian defenders and civilians from the Serbian and Yugoslav People’s Army aggression of the 1990’s.

Croatia is still searching for the remains of 1 744 people who went missing during the Homeland War, 332 from the Vukovar area alone. The President of the Alliance of Associations of Detained and Missing Croatian Veterans, Ljiljana Alvir: "We want to send a message to all of those people who have information, to let us know where our loved ones are, to relieve themselves of this burden, to help us, but also to help their own children, who have to live their lives in peace. I would remind you that concealing the truth about missing persons is a punishable offence. That it is an obligation to speak up and help the institutions and families looking for their loved ones."

For his part Deputy Prime Minister and Veterans' Affairs Minister, Tomo Medved, vowed that the search for the missing would continue: "In the last couple of years we have found more than forty individual graves and six mass graves. The biggest mass grave, one that is unique in terms of brutality, but also in terms of many other factors, such as the complexity of the process, which is ongoing, is the Petrovački Dol landfill near Vukovar. So far we have exhumed the remains of thirty-five victims from that site. Based on our projections and the information we have, there could still be other victims buried at that site."

While in Sinj Minister Medved also commented on his recent meeting with veterans' associations from Benkovac, Zadar and Šibenik, after the "Fališ" and "Nosi se" festivals were cancelled due to veterans' protests. Veterans voiced concerns about the content of the two festivals which they feel denigrates veterans and the values of the Homeland War: "Culture and arts yes, bans and prohibitions no. However, I kindly ask, let us not present through various programs, or try to present programs that offend these people, veterans and their families. All of this can be achieved through honest dialogue and mutual respect. That's what I have proposed, what I told the veterans and what I am calling for."

Source: HRT