The exhibition “Operation Storm — Stories from the Hague Courtrooms” was launched on this website exactly thirty years after the Croatian Army and the Special Police of the Republic of Croatia undertook Operation Storm in August 1995, seized territory that had until then been held by the forces of the “Republic of Serbian Krajina” with support from Serbia, and returned it within the borders of what was by then an internationally recognised Croatian state.
The exhibition presents independent stories about events that took place during and after Operation Storm through the lens of evidence presented before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The stories are not arranged chronologically or thematically — the choice of sequence is left to the users. However, once you go through these stories, they come together into a whole that inevitably challenges the dominant narratives prevalent throughout the region of the former Yugoslavia, narratives that view Operation Storm either solely as a criminal act or describe it as an operation “as clean as a whistle.”
The exhibition also aims to show the context in which Operation Storm took place, as opposed to the narrative that presents it as the beginning of the conflict and the wave of crimes in the Krajina area.
Only one trial for war crimes committed during and after Operation Storm was conducted before the tribunal in The Hague: that against Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Čermak, and Mladen Markač. Although Gotovina and Markač were sentenced to 24 and 18 years of imprisonment respectively in the first-instance judgement, they were acquitted of all responsibility in the appeal proceedings by a decision that was — for certain parts of the public — controversial.
The exhibition does not discuss the reasons or motivations behind that decision, but it clearly shows the significance of the Hague trials for war crimes, even when the verdicts are acquittals. Although the Appeals Chamber acquitted the accused, it did not overturn, nor could it have overturned, the factual findings of the first-instance judgement concerning numerous crimes committed against the Serbian population of “Krajina”.
That is the factual foundation on which the entire exhibition before you is based. The exhibition “Operation Storm — Stories from the Hague Courtrooms” was organised by the Serb National Council (SNV).
Concept and production:
Branka Vierda
English translation:
Vírgula
Design and programming:
Slobodna domena Open source and design cooperative
Material sources:
Archives of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism)
The exhibition was realised with expert collaboration and consultation from the Mechanism Information Programme for Affected Communities (MIP).
The Serb National Council extends its gratitude to the MIP and the Mechanism’s Archives and Records Section (MARS) for their assistance in the archival research and for providing courtroom video materials.
The exhibition was realised with financial support from the Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. The content of this exhibition is the sole responsibility of the Serb National Council and can under no circumstances be considered to reflect the views of the Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities.
Likewise, under no circumstances can the content of this exhibition be considered to reflect the views of the Mechanism Information Programme of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for Affected Communities.
Zagreb, July 2025.