Description

Politics od Erasure: Operation Pocket-93 and Its Consequences

The bulletin Politics of Erasure: Operation Pocket-93 and Its Consequences deals with the analysis of war crimes and human rights violations committed during the Croatian Army’s military-police operation Pocket-93, which was carried out between 9 and 17 September 1993. From this perspective, the aim was to precisely describe the area in which the operation was conducted and to provide a day-by-day timeline of events on the ground. All segments of command responsibility operating on several parallel levels were analysed, with an effort to determine accountability for commiting the crimes.

This research also establishes an interpretative framework for crimes that include killings, torture of civilians and prisoners of war, destruction of property, looting, and attempts to cover up the crimes, all as integral parts of ethnic cleansing. The study also explores the objectives and motives behind the launch of the operation, and presents the role of military and political leadership in Croatia, along with their respective plans.

Politics of Erasure: Operation Pocket-93 and Its Consequences presents the social and political aftermath of Operation Pocket-93, and in this context, it shows its presence in the public sphere, provides an analysis of war crimes trials conducted in Croatia for crimes committed during the operation, and examines the ways in which victims have attempted to achieve justice and reparations through additional mechanisms. Finally, this bulletin offers an overview of current memory politics and the public presence of war crimes perpetrators, along with an analysis of contemporary challenges, including the provisions of the Act on the Legal Consequences of Conviction, Criminal Records, and Rehabilitation, which pose both present and future challenges in the process of dealing with the past.