In 1991, Gospi\u0107 itself had a population of 9,025, while the administrative area of the Town of Gospi\u0107 included nearly 30,000 inhabitants spread across 82 urban and rural settlements. Within Gospi\u0107 proper, out of the total 9,025 residents, 35.93%, or 3,243 people, were of Serbian ethnicity. There were slightly more than 5,000 Croats. Today, Gospi\u0107 no longer administratively covers such a large area; several smaller municipalities have been formed within that territory, and some urban settlements, such as Karlobag, have been separated. According to the 2011 census, the town’s territory encompasses 50 settlements with a total population of 12,745, of whom only 609, or 4.78%, are Serbs.<\/p>\n
Period:<\/strong> October 1991<\/p>\n Description of crimes:<\/strong> During the first half of October, police officers in Gospi\u0107 compiled a list of Serbs who had remained living there after the outbreak of the war or had returned following invitations from local authorities. A group gathered around the so-called Lika Operational Headquarters, informally led by Tihomir Ore\u0161kovi\u0107, who held the greatest power and influence, and which also included the then commander of the 118th Brigade, Mirko Norac, organised unlawful and unjustified arrests of civilians, mostly Serbs but also some Croats from Gospi\u0107, the surrounding area, and Karlobag. More than 50 people were taken to the Peru\u0161i\u0107 barracks, where they were detained, though four were eventually released. On the evening of 17 October, a so-called deadly meeting was held at the Operational Headquarters with about 15 participants, during which it was decided that the detained civilians were to be executed. They were taken to a pine plantation called \u017ditnik (Pazari\u0161te), where at least ten people were killed. Mirko Norac participated in the killings, along with other unnamed attendees of the meeting. The very next morning, 18 October, following an agreement between Ore\u0161kovi\u0107 and Norac, Stjepan Grandi\u0107, as commander of the 2nd Battalion stationed at the Peru\u0161i\u0107 barracks, organised the transport of the remaining civilians to the location of Lipova Glavica near Peru\u0161i\u0107. There, he ordered Croatian Army soldiers to kill the people brought there by firearm. Victims also went missing and were killed in other locations, such as Karlobag. The verdict of the County Court established the identities of at least 54 victims. Some sources mention additional victims from the wider Gospi\u0107 area in the autumn of 1991, but their deaths or identities have not been confirmed. Most victims were of Serbian ethnicity, but a significant number came from mixed marriages; some identified as Yugoslavs, and others were ethnically Croat.<\/p>\n Victims:<\/strong><\/p>\n Information on the exhumation and identification of the victims:<\/span><\/strong> On 25 December 1991, the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), specifically members of the 6th<\/sup> Lika Brigade, found 24 burned bodies in the area of the village of Duge Njive, east of Peru\u0161i\u0107. Dr Zoran Stankovi\u0107 from the Belgrade Military Medical Academy conducted an external examination of the dead bodies. Among those identified were Radmila Stani\u0107, Branko Kuzmanovi\u0107, Branko \u0160tuli\u0107, Stanko Smiljani\u0107, Radojka Dikli\u0107, Mirjana Kalanj, \u0110or\u0111e Kalanj, Dane Bulj, Milan Panteli\u0107, Mileva Orlovi\u0107, Milo\u0161 Orlovi\u0107, Radovan Bara\u0107, Ljubica Trifunovi\u0107, Petar Lazi\u0107, Borka Vrane\u0161, Bogdan \u0160uput, Du\u0161anka Vrane\u0161, Nikola Gaji\u0107, and \u017deljko Mrki\u0107, that is, 19 victims out of the 24. Eighteen bodies were later buried in a mass grave at Debelo Brdo, while six were buried in individual graves. Milan Levar spoke out about these crimes in Gospi\u0107. He was later murdered in the yard of his car repair workshop in Gospi\u0107 on 28 August 2000. No one was ever held accountable for the bomb explosion that killed him. Between 16 and 17 December 2000, 18 bodies were exhumed at Debelo Brdo. These were examined by experts from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Rijeka, and DNA analysis was conducted for identification. Fifteen bodies were identified at that time, while three remained unidentified. This confirmed the identities of 13 people previously identified in 1991 and additionally identified Mi\u0107o Pejnovi\u0107 and Sofija Lon\u010dar. In July 2014, the post-mortem remains of Stanko Smiljani\u0107 and \u017deljko Mrki\u0107 were identified at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Zagreb.<\/p>\n Judicial consequences:<\/span><\/strong> By the verdict of the County Court in Rijeka in March 2003, confirmed by the Supreme Court in June 2004, Tihomir Ore\u0161kovi\u0107 was sentenced as the principal instigator to 15 years in prison, Mirko Norac to 12 years, and Stjepan Grandi\u0107 to ten years of imprisonment. Since Mirko Norac was also sentenced to six years for crimes committed in the Medak Pocket, his sentences were combined to a total of 15 years, and he was released after serving two-thirds of his sentence. The other two convicted men were also released from prison. Although many other officers and soldiers participated in the crime, either in planning and organising or in its execution, only these three men were held criminally responsible, certainly the most responsible, but not the only ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-1339","zlocini","type-zlocini","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n