Harassment and Ethnic Cleansing in Western Slavonia by the Authorities of the Republic of Croatia

Part 4.
Part 1 is at this link.

PRESSURES EXERTED ON NON-OUSTED ETHNIC SERB POPULATION IN WESTERN SLAVONIA AND INHIBITING OF REFUGEE RETURN

After depopulating a larger part of ethnic Serb population, only about ten Western Slavonian villages under Croatian control remain ethnically uncleansed, still with an absolute ethnic Serb majority. Individual villagers have fled to the Republic of Serbia and ethnic Serb parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina, while most of them, despite great pressures exerted upon them by Croatian authorities and population, remain in their villages. A small number of ethnic Serbs has also stayed on in settlements where they were a minority, and in some municipality capitals. Their readiness to be loyal in every conceivable way to the Croatian state was not accepted, nor was the state ready to treat them as loyal subjects. During the close of 1991 and in early 1992, pressure exerted upon them increased, and especially so after the international recognition of Croatia, when the remaining ethnic Serb population was swamped with a new wave of violence in all Western Slavonian municipalities. This pressure was and still is exerted upon them in various ways. In this report, we draw attention especially to some of these ways:

a) Liquidations, arrests and physical harassment of ethnic Serbs

The Croatian armed forces in Western Slavonia have committed numerous crimes against ethnic Serbs with the objective of accelerating and completing ethnic cleansing of this region. The terrorist methods of their members, both active and in reserve, used against ethnic Serbs was especially pronounced immediately before international recognition of the Republic of Croatia. Since armed conflicts in that republic were almost completely over, none of the committed crimes can be explained and justified by anarchy, characteristic of war conditions. Many of those crimes were committed on territories which according to the Vance plan were under protectorate of the United Nations, but have in fact remained under full control of Croatian authorities. In the Daruvar municipality, quoted here as only one example, human rights have been broken and from the close of 1991 until mid 1992, the following crimes have been committed against ethnic Serbs:

Members of Croatian armed forces, on December 14, 1991, murdered one Milan Markovic (1952) in the yard of his house in the village of Pakrani. His corpse was left unburied at the scene of the crime, and pigs tore the corpse apart;

- At the close of 1991, Croatian policemen affected mass arrests of ethnic Serbs in Daruvar and its vicinity. The arrested victims were harassed in improvised jails in Daruvar and the Police premises in Bjelovar. Despite the fact that these were civilians, the Croatian police forced them to agree to be exchanged for Croatian soldiers captured by the Banja Luka corps of the YPA. In spite of pressure and beatings, most of those arrested refused to be exchanged, because after the exchange, their families and property would be killed and damaged. Of 62 people arrested who did agree to be exchanged, as may be concluded on basis of police logs of Bjelovar dated January 16, 1992, 25 prisoners refused to be exchanged during the actual exchange procedure. Jovan Radic (1915) never lived to see the exchange because he died in prison from harassment and severe beatings;

- During the second half of January 1992, members of the Croatian police killed in the village of Miljanovac, not far from Daruvar, three ethnic Serbs: Milica Pavkovic (1920), Pero Pavkovic (1944) and Branko Obradovic (1934). They were among the very few ethnic Serbs who did not want to leave their homesteads and become refugees. Milica Pavkovic was killed in the night of January 21-22, 1992 in the yard of her house in Miljanovac, No. 128. She was taken out of the house while her son, Pero Pavkovic, was being arrested and was taken to a yard building. In the morning of January 22, 1992 she was found dead, her head split open by a blunt object and with traces of a firearm bullet fired from a point blank range. That same night, the Croatian police took her son Pero Pavkovic and a neighbor Branko Obradovic in an unknown direction. Their corpses were discovered on January 30, 1992 in the vicinity of Starcevci, near the village of Miljanovci. On the bodies of the slain men, their relatives found clear marks of physical torture and gunshot wounds. The Daruvar police, whose territory includes the village of Miljanovac, never conducted any investigation of these crimes committed by its own members;

- Several Croatian policemen, among them a reserve policeman Jozica Mudri from Donji Daruvar, late in the evening of February 25, 1992, and in daruvar, Kranjcevica street No. 17, killed four members of an ethnic Serb family. They murdered Radovan Radosavljevic (1956), his wife Jovanka (1960) and sons Dejan (1978) and Nenad (1982). Before the family was liquidated, Jovanka Radosavljevic was raped before her husband and children. To hide this hideous crime, the policemen mined the house in which they left the corpses. The corpses were later on nevertheless turned over to the family in closed coffins, but the police stood guard by the coffins until the actual funeral ceremony. This preventing the family from seeing the corpses of their loved ones before the funeral gave rise to the suspicion that the dead bodies of the family were massacred;

- Croatian policemen and some members of the local CDU chapter, on February 19, 1992 surrounded the village of Imsovac, until that time not depopulated and with an absolute ethnic Serb majority, in the municipality of Daruvar, and arrested 28 men of ethnic Serb background and took them to jail in Bjelovar. Among others, they arrested Goran Alavanja, Nikola Alavanja (1950), Teodor Alavanja (1938), Branko Bojcic (1937), Bojan Bojcic (1929), Petar Bojcic (1950), Ranko Bozic, Nenad Karlovic (1960), Rajko Mihajlovic (1948), Jovo Pejakovic, Teodor Pejakovic (1941) and Petar Trkulja (1936). The remaining village population was forbidden all contact with its neighborhood and was for days on end kept in uncertainty regarding the fate of their arrested relatives. All prisoners were tortured in jail, and Ranko Bozic, who was severely beaten, was taken out for a false shooting. He was forced to dig his own grave and shots were fired over his head, with the obvious purpose of breaking him psychologically. The EEC observer team and the UNPROFOR command were alerted of these events by the prisoners" relatives and the Serbian Council Information Center, but their reaction was far from quick and being in accord with the gravity of the situation in which the arrested ethnic Serbs from Imsovac, as well as their families, had found themselves in;

- On March 5, 1992 Croatian policemen arrested all adult males of ethnic Serb background in Govedje Polje, a village with an absolute ethnic Serb majority. The names of all those arrested have not been determined, but it is reliably known that the following ethnic Serbs have been taken to jail in Daruvar: Mile Dragojlovic (1934), Stevo Grandic (1938), Milorad Iric (1957), Simo Iric (1936), Stanko Iric (1938), Zeljko Iric (1962), Ilija Ivankovic (1937), Lazo Karan (1941), Stanko Kondic (1964), Veljko Lazic (1946), Ninko Majstorovic (1952), Zeljko Mileusnic (1970), Petar Stankovic (1936) and Milos Vikalo (1930). All prisoners were released from jail after the complaints lodged by relatives from Belgrade and the Serbian Council Information Center lodged with the EEC observer mission and international organizations concerned with human rights. After their release, it was established that Stevo Grandic and Simo Iric were seriously hurt by jail beatings with lasting consequences for their health, while others were simply beaten;

- At dawn, on March 17, 1992, Croatian policemen surrounded the ethnic Serb majority villages of Duhove and Blagorodovac, and an ethnically mixed village of Uljanik, and arrested several ethnic Serbs there. On that same day, the Serbian Council Information Center reported this event to the EEC observer mission and the UNPROFOR command in Belgrade, requesting their mediation in providing legal protection and release of the prisoners. The arrested ethnic Serbs, whose families were denied all information regarding where they were, were exposed to heaviest forms of torture in jail. Heavy physical damage was inflicted upon Pana Zukanovic and Velimir Gvozdenovic, while Lazo Slavujevic (1936), from the Duhovi village, died of inflicted wounds in jail on March 18, 1992;

- In the village of Kip, on night of July 18-19, 1992, Milica Gojkovic (1931), the wife of Nikola Gojkovic (1927), who was killed in the Croatian death camp in Marino selo in the second half of November 1991, was burned alive in a farm building on her property. Before the murder, according to the testimony of a reliable witness, Milica Gojkovic was beaten by members of the Crisis HQ from the neighboring village of Gornji Sredjani and policemen from Daruvar, mostly by Damir, Zoran and Zeljko Sepl, because they found out she had made inquiries about who, how and when had killed her husband and 15 other ethnic Serbs from Kip. Since the village of Kip is in the zone of UNPROFOR responsibility, it is expected that UN soldiers will conduct an investigation of this case and will inform the public of the results of their investigation.

All above case of harassment and crimes perpetrated against ethnic Serbs on the territory of the Daruvar municipality, and that is a municipality which with regard to terrorist activities against ethnic Serbs is considered as one of the more peaceful ones in Western Slavonia simply because it is under some sort of control by UNPROFOR, have in fact happened after armed conflict in that region had ceased and were committed by members of armed and police forces of the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, the responsibility for these and similar crimes committed in other Western Slavonian municipalities, which have caused much fear among the ethnic Serb population and have accelerated the process of ethnic cleansing of Western Slavonia, rests with the state of Croatia.

b) Mining of houses and destruction of ethnic Serb property

Machine gunning, bomb raiding and mining of ethnic Serb houses and business premises represents one of the most frequently used forms of pressure used against ethnic Serb population in Western Slavonia. According to as yet incomplete data, this was the method used in nine Western Slavonian municipalities, to damage or destroy, but always thoroughly loot, several thousand ethnic Serb houses, and that at a time when armed conflict had stopped in the Republic of Croatia. Over 150 ethnic Serb villages have been turned to ghost towns or wiped from the face of the earth.

Only abandoned houses were not mined, left behind by ethnic Serbs together with all their property when fleeing their settlements, as well as the houses which had not yet been abandoned and were still inhabited by their owners. Tearing down of ethnic Serb houses and business premises had a very important role to play in the process of ethnic cleansing the ethnic Serbs from the Republic of Croatia: that is a way to prevent ethnic Serb refugees from ever coming back to their settlements, and by causing fear and increasing the feeling of being threatened among the remaining ethnic Serbs, they were forcing to leave the territories controlled by the Croatian authorities even those ethnic Serbs who stubbornly remained in their homes and settlements.

Hard proof exist that many ethnic Serb houses and business premises in Western Slavonia had been torn down solely for the purpose of preventing the return of refugees. Already by the close of 1991, during the depopulating of ethnic Serb villages in the western part of the Pozega municipality, justified by the alleged concern for the population safety, several hundred houses were first burned and then razed to the ground so that ethnic Serbs would have no place to return to. In late 1991 and early 1992, after the mass exodus of ethnic Serbs from Western Slavonia, about a hundred ethnic Serb houses were burned and razed to the ground on the slopes of the Papuk and Psunj mountains.

Tearing down of houses belonging to refugees in partially depopulated settlements and in settlements in which the Croatian authorities have been conducting ethnic cleansing during the last few months, has become an everyday event and is obviously conducted by the Croatian state authorities. As proof of that, and there is ample proof to choose from, one could quote the fact that inspector Vlado Borbas from the police station of Podravska Slatina, in an official capacity and in conversation held on January 10, 1992, warned an ethnic Serb refugee, who had returned to her house and intended to stay there, to return to Podravska Slatina at once, because there was a rule in the town that "whoever returns - gets his house mined". That was no idle threat, because the house of this refugee, whose deposition is on our files, was mined and knocked down soon enough. The intent to tear down houses to prevent refugees from returning is further confirmed by a statement of an anonymous bomber from Daruvar, who in late March 1992 and in conversation with journalist of "Slobodni tijednik" from Zagreb (No. 106, April 1, 1992), explaining why it was good to mine ethnic Serb houses, literally stated: "Blowing up of house is both good and bad. It is good only in case if that is a guarantee that the chetnik, not Serb but chetnik, will not be back in town. And I think that"s a good enough guarantee". On that occasion, that bomber, in fact a member of the Virovitica brigade of the Croatian national guard commanded by Djuro Djecak, demonstrated strange criteria of determining who was and who was not a "chetnik" - of some thirty houses he had blown up, he blew up the house and store of Misa Djermanovic, the richest ethnic Serb in Daruvar, and as of mid last year, a refugee in Belgrade. In connection with blowing up of this house, the anonymous bomber stated to the journalists of "Slobodni tjednik": "In the house, on the first floor, were members of his family. I knew that and that"s why I blew up only his store on the ground floor. I"m not a killer. All the store had in it were some chips gone bad, nothing else. One more reason to blow it up." Members of Misa Djermanovic"s family survived the mining of their house which they were sleeping in at the moment of explosion, but many other ethnic Serbs in Western Slavonia did not survive similar escapades of Croatian bombers. For example, the blowing up of their houses were not survived by Dusan Kljajic (about 37) and his wife Milica Kljajic (about 37) from the village of Gucani, municipality of Slavonska Pozega, Simo Smolic (1936) and Mara Smolic (1936) from Gornji Miholjci, municipality of Podravska Slatina, and Jula Dokic (1924) from Kantrovci, who after leaving her village lost her life in the blowing up of her summer house in Velika, municipality of Slavonska Pozega.

Destruction of ethnic Serb houses and business premises to stimulate the exodus of ethnic Serbs, in the function of ethnic cleansing, began in the first half of 1991, and goes on to this day. The first to be hit were the richer ethnic Serbs in towns and cities, followed by ethnic Serbs in villages under complete control of Croatian authorities, and where local ethnic Serbs offered no resistance at all. For example, already in June 1991, explosives were used to demolish the "Romantika" restaurant of Milos Puac, an ethnic Serb from Slavonska Pozega, Zagrebacka street No. 55. Attacks against his restaurant and house were repeated constantly until he fled the Republic of Croatia. In urban settlements, in view of the fact that they were ethnically mixed, individually mined and set afire were only houses belonging to ethnic Serbs, usually one or two per night. In purely ethnic Serb or ethnically mixed village settlements, quite frequently veritable pogroms were organized against ethnic Serb population and then their houses were demolished one by one. In that respect, the examples provided by the villages of Sinlija and Jaksic are quite characteristic:

- Sinlije, a small ethnic Serb settlement counting 14 households, in the Nova Gradiska municipality, was surrounded by Croatian armed forces on December 10, 1991 in early morning hours, when the inhabitants had not yet gotten out of bed. According to witness statements, the house were furiously machine gunned, and some were fired upon from hand launchers, model "Zolja" ("Wasp"). After a short attack, Croatian soldiers broke into the houses, forced their inhabitants outside, gathered them in front of Steva Zivkovic"s house and began to burn down their homes one by one. On that occasion, they hung the immobile Jovo Zivkovic (1918) and slit the throat of his wife Jagoda Zivkovic (1918), and then burned their bodies in the house. The other inhabitants, including elder people and children, were taken to jail in Nova Gradiska. They stayed in jail for two days, after which most ethnic Serbs were released, but were also forbidden to return to their charred homesteads. The surviving and expelled inhabitants of the Sinlija village today live as refugees in other people"s homes, mostly in the Republic of Serbian Krayina and the Republic of Serbia. They have no elementary sources of income, and like other refugees from ethnically cleansed places of Western Slavonia, they live under constant threat of being sent away from places where they currently live;

- Jaksic, an ethnically mixed village in the municipality of Slavonska Pozega, but with several purely ethnic Serb streets is today practically ethnically cleansed. Although there were attacks on ethnic Serbs before (for example, on July 2, 1991, Jovo Kljajic (1938) was murdered in his home, while his family members were harassed), the real pogrom of ethnic Serbs happened in March 1992, when Croatian guardsmen, headed by Ilija Sutalo and Slavko Kalas, in one single night burned down the homes and business premises of Milan Kljajic, Drago Jakovljevic, Vid Djurdjevic, Milenko Jurkovic, Milan Subotic, Djuro Miljic, Risot Ignjatovic, Pero Bogradnovic, Miodrag Jovanovic, Savo Slavujevic, Stanko Cosic, Milan Cosic, Ranko Mutic, Milenko Stanojevic, Mica Danilovic and Pero Subotic. No-one dared try to put out the fire from torched houses because that had been forbidden by the local Crisis HQ. While attacking ethnic Serb homes, Croatian guardsmen threw hand grenades into them not caring whether there was anyone in the houses. This mass destruction of ethnic Serb houses was executed after the funeral of one Croatian soldier from Jaksic, who was killed somewhere on Papuk after stepping on a land mine. After the first pogrom, according to data gathered thus far, some 38 houses were mined and burned down in this village alone. Nowadays, some damaged ethnic Serb houses have been repaired because they were populated by Croats, mostly from Hrtkovci. This total ethnic structure change of the population of Jaksic, which had by summer of 1992 become na almost ethnically pure Croatian village, amply states in itself the reasons why the attacks in it had been performed upon ethnic Serb homes and property.

The fact that the Republic of Croatia was in fact deeply involved in this campaign of destroying ethnic Serb houses in Western Slavonia is also confirmed by the fact that to dynamite a house one needs and average of four kilograms (8.8 lb) of explosives. Only the anonymous bomber from Daruvar, who stated for "Slobodni tjednik" of Zagreb that he himself had mined some thirty ethnic Serb houses, had to use some 120 kilograms (264 lb) of explosives. It is difficult to imagine that anyone could get hold of that kind of quantity without any knowledge and aid from police and military authorities. To mine several thousand ethnic Serb houses in Western Slavonia tons of explosive were used, and that much explosives can be obtained only from the state.

On basis of depositions made by reliable witnesses, who at the time of house bombings still lived on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, it has been established that EEC monitors and UNPROFOR members have conducted a fair number of investigation during the first half of 1992 in field and it is to be expected that they will, for the sake of the truth and their consciences, soon make public the results of their investigations regarding the mining of ethnic Serb houses and business premises. If these expectations are not fulfilled, then they too will take their share of the responsibility for hiding the truth about ethnic cleansing of Western Slavonia, and of the Republic of Croatia as a whole.

c) Publishing of anti-Serb texts and unwanted person lists

During the last few years, Croatian media have published a tremendous number of anti-Serb texts and have provided a large contribution to the spreading of intolerance and hate among the Croatian population towards ethnic Serbs in Croatia. Beside numerous anti-Serb texts published in local papers and anti-Serb statements on local radio shows in towns of Western Slavonia, also during 1991 and 1992 a large number of anti-Serb posters and lists of unwanted ethnic Serbs, alleged enemies of Croatia:

- The longest list of "enemies" of the sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia was published by Croatian armed forces in Daruvar in early 1992. This list, printed in form of a book titled: "Who"s who in Daruvar" ("Tko je tko u Daruvaru") contains a short introduction and the names and surnames of 6,521 ethnic Serbs from 35 settlements on the Daruvar municipality, who allegedly by voting for cultural autonomy on a referendum held in autumn of 1991 planted "the seed of evil" in Slavonia. After this book was published, more people were fired from work and there was more persecution of ethnic Serbs in the Daruvar municipality. Lists for firing ethnic Serbs were produced in all companies and institutions in Daruvar on basis of this book. In their notices of dismissal from work, the originals of which are on our files, the only reason given for firing from work of individual employees is their participation in the referendum and the fact that their name is listed in "Who"s who in Daruvar", and this book listed virtually all the names of practically all ethnic Serbs in Daruvar and its vicinity who had the right to vote. A similar publication was recently printed for the municipality of Grubisino Polje;

- In Podravska Slatina, as reported by "Glas Slavonije" ("The voice of Slavonia") on May 7, 1992, on "all visible places" throughout the town a poster was made public with a list of 340 ethnic Serbs living in this municipality. In the spring of 1992, many of those listed were already away as refugees, but there were quite a few who were still living in Podravska Slatina. The authors themselves explained clearly why they made this list of ethnic Serbs in the introduction: "They abandoned our region, but let us not allow them to return individually. We owe that to the future generations, peace and happiness of those coming after us". This call to lynching did not remain without response - after the list was published, the houses of many ethnic Serbs from that list were mined, damaged or destroyed, without any regard as to whether they were abandoned or whether someone still lived in them. For example"s sake, we quote the names and serial numbers from the list of only a small part of ethnic Serbs whose houses and business premises were mined at that time: Crnobrnja Nikola (list number 1), Sasic Ilija (2), Karadzic Milun (3), Vukelic Veljko (4), Dopudja Nikola (9), Budalic Radovan (22), Borotic Milan (23), Ojkic Nikola (24), Stulic Milan (28), Vukelic Ratko (31), Vujanic Stevan (32), Trbojevic Savo (35), Maljkovic Stevan (36), Dejanovic Milan (51), Subotic Milan (56), Ljubicic Dragoljub (59), Bogojevic Radovan (76), Drezgic Stevan (83), Momcilovic Bosko (110), Stefanovic Milenko (139), Jorgic Djuro (193), Drezgic Milan (212), Grkinic Jovan (259), Kaurin Milos (265), Simic Radivoj (266), Jagodic Pero (268), Subotic Ljubisko (292), Radosavljevic Brane (312), Cvijetic Zeljko (317), Kosanovic Vojo (324), Stepanovic Zeljko (329) and Stepanovic Vlado (330). Some ethnic Serbs, whose names were on that list, were forced to flee the Republic of Croatia after it was published and to accept at their cost an exchange of property with ethnic Croats from the Republic of Serbia. For example, Stojan Momcilovic (list number 29) and Veljko Hajdukovic (list number 326) lost value in the exchange of property with ethnic Croats from Golubinci and moved from the Republic of Croatia to the Republic of Serbia. After the publishing of the list, there were liquidations of those ethnic Serbs who did not flee the territory of the Podravska Slatina municipality - on the Orthodox holiday of Grand Friday, April 24, 1992, Croatian guardsmen slit the throat of Milos Obradovic (list number 49), born in 1934 or 1935, in the local marketplace. According to witness reports, the victim"s eyes were gouged out and his corpse was left on the scene of the crime until late in the afternoon;

- Among the many anti-Serb posters which were published and posted in public places in Western Slavonian towns and villages, of special interest is a large black and yellow poster, printed in Daruvar in early March 1992, when this town and the entire Daruvar municipality were formally already under the protectorate of UNPROFOR. This poster, one of which is on the files of the Serbian Council Information Center, represents a veritable manual and instructions to the population how to discover "the enemies" in their midst. The very first sentence of this manual which states that the enemies ("the fifth, and by God, the sixth column") are recognized by hearing them "talk of democracy and human rights", clearly demonstrates the anti- democratic, and one could freely state fascist positions of the poster authors - the Croatian Democratic Union and the Initiative committee for founding of the Croatian Democratic Party in Daruvar.

d) Psychological pressures

The psychological pressures and harassment of ethnic Serbs preceded actual ethnic conflicts in Western Slavonia. Almost all refugees from urban and ethnically mixed settlements who took part in our poll on the reasons for fleeing, stressed in particular that it was very hard for them to take this kind of pressure while living in the Republic of Croatia. Pressures were exerted upon them by the Croatian population, but also by members of other ethnic minorities of Roman Catholic faith. The forms of pressure varied from breaking of contacts to verbal assaults and threats of ethnic Serbs. However, these early forms of pressure appear quite innocent in comparison with those used lately against ethnic Serbs living in ethnically partially cleansed settlements:

- Inhabitants of Croat, Czech and Hungarian ethnic background, supported by state authorities, have not only completely broken off all contacts with ethnic Serbs during the last year or so, but are now forbidding ethnic Serbs to communicate among themselves and to visit each other, especially during the evening. Ethnic Serbs also have no opportunity to conduct any spiritual life, so that in most ethnically partially cleansed settlements ethnic Serb communities are almost completely broken up, and lonely individuals and families are left all to themselves. This is hardest of the sick and elderly, especially in view of that fact that beside isolation, they also have to suffer other forms of pressure as well;

- In most settlements of Western Slavonia in which there are still some ethnic Serbs left, including settlements in the Daruvar and Grubisino Polje municipalities, where their safety and semblance of normal life should be cared for by the forces of UNPROFOR, ethnic Serbs are practically forbidden all movement outside their own house yards. According to testimonies of witnesses, who arrived in the Republic of Serbia during the last few months, there are virtually daily shootings at ethnic Serbs who try to go to their fields. In this manner, for example, already three people have been wounded in Govedje Polje. One of the victims, Ljuba Mileusnic (1918), died from wounds in a hospital. Nobody was held culpable for these shootings. Ethnic Serbs are not allowed even to the forest to gather firewood for winter, and it is quite certain that because of this, many of them and especially the elder and the children, will freeze to death during the coming winter, unless the international community takes care of them. Members of UNPROFOR, as we have reliably ascertained, know of some of these attacks against as yet remaining ethnic Serb population in the regions of Daruvar and Grubisino Polje, but unfortunately, there is no mention of these facts in their press releases. By concealing Croatian crimes and pressures exerted upon ethnic Serbs on territories under the protectorate of UNPROFOR, on which Croatian laws are applied, members of UNPROFOR become accomplices in the process of ethnic cleansing in the Republic of Croatia. However, one should also take into account the fact that members of UNPROFOR practically have little opportunity to gain a full insight into the condition in the regions they control because ethnic Serbs there rarely inform them of violations against human rights and pressures they are under. There is no question of refusing to cooperate, and this is a consequence of the fact that ethnic Serbs who do complain to UNPROFOR are later on exposed to yet greater pressures, since the Croatian authorities are, as stated by witnesses, very well informed of any such complaints;

- In regions which are not under the protectorate of UNPROFOR, such as the municipalities of Virovitica, Slatina, Orahovaca and Pozega, the overall situation is incomparably worse that in the municipalities of Daruvar and Grubisino Polje. Pogroms against the remaining ethnic Serb population in these municipalities are not even recorded and are not considered as anything abnormal. Because of this, ethnic Serbs who live there under inhumane conditions are threatened by the Croatian police with arrests and are arrested without any charges, beaten up in their homes and in jails, their houses are shot at and blown up, and together with local ethnic Croats, their property is taken away, as is their money. In only one Pozega village, for example, Ciglenik, during the last few months, several attacks against ethnic Serbs have been recorded: on May 26, 1992, houses and business premises of Sava Colic, Milovan Milisavljevic, Uros Kutic and Petko Skoric have been damaged or knocked down by explosive charges; in June, burnt and looted were the home and other buildings belonging to Jovo Mrkaic, and later on of Andjelko Obradovic; from the end of June to the end of September, robbed, harassed or beaten up in their homes were Nevenka Glavinic, Cvijeta Jagodic, Anka Jagodic, Savo Kutic, Luka Vrkljanic, Mladen Colic, Milisavka Colic, Stevan Savic, Dusko Jagodic, Milan Jagodic and Milomir Budic. All above acts of violence were performed by armed Croatian civilians and reserve members of the Croatian police and armed forces from Ciglenik and Jaksic, most of them recent settlers from Hrtkovci;

- Ethnic Serbs are most worried by nights, when there is free passage only for ethnic Croats. At night, "unknown perpetrators" shoot at ethnic Serb houses or plant explosives in them, so ethnic Serbs rarely sleep in their homes, preferring hidden places in yards or sleeping at daytime only and staying awake at night. Several witnesses, who recently managed to flee the Republic of Croatia, state in their depositions freely given to members of the Serbian Council Information Center that for months on end (in one case, for a whole year) they had not spent one single night in their own home, fearing that their house might be booby trapped and that they might be killed in it. Even today, when they are refugees and in safety, our witnesses still experience the aftermath of the terror they were exposed to and physical fatigue. Killing by fear and fatigue represents surely the most horrible form of killing people who cannot leave and have no place to go, and whose human rights are totally denied, with no-one to defend and protect them. Fear and constant stress are literally killing ethnic Serbs in Croatia: Nada Markovic (1937), an ethnic Serb woman from Miljevci, municipality of Podravska Slatina, died this spring from a stroke at the time when Croatian guardsmen machine gunned her house. Her house, in which she lived with her husband Milo Markovic (1929), had until that time been machine gunned several and dynamited times over. On the occasion of the last attack, Nada Markovic left her shelter in the yard she slept in and, beside herself for fear, went towards the guardsmen who were shooting away. She did not die from their bullets, but of pure and simple fear.

All forms of psychological pressures, including constant threats towards the remaining ethnic Serbs, that they will be charged for "preparing an armed rebellion against the Republic of Croatia", are impossible to list and describe in this report. It is important to underline that psychological pressures against ethnic Serb population is ever less a spontaneous form of behavior of ethnic Croats and ever more a well organized and prepared activity of the state and its institutions, including the Roman Catholic church, aimed at making life unbearable to the few ethnic Serbs and Yugoslavs, who because of property, family or other reasons have not yet abandoned their homes. Various manuals on how to deal with ethnic Serbs, some of which have been obtained by our associates, will one day enable a complete insight into a totalitarian system and the destruction of ethnic Serbs in the Republic of Croatia. They will also constitute the gravest accusation made against that system.