The village of Kijani is located in Lika and administratively belongs to the Municipality of Gračac. According to the 1991 census, there were 222 inhabitants in Kijani, of whom 217, or nearly 98%, were Serbs. According to the 2011 census, Kijani has 56 residents.

Description of the crime: At the beginning of Operation Storm, the vast majority of Kijani’s residents decided to join the refugee column and leave their village. However, some residents chose to stay, unwilling to abandon their homes. According to witness testimonies, one important reason for this was hearing President Tuđman’s message on the radio, urging those who had “not stained their hands with blood” to remain. From the first entry of Croatian forces into Kijani until the end of September 1995, 14 civilians were killed in the village, including nine women.

Civilian victims:

  1. Blanuša, Sava (Nikola), born 20 August 1921
  2. Bolta, Danilo (Nikola), born 5 June 1900 / 6 May 1900
  3. Jelača, Branko (Đurađ), born 16 September 1929 / 16 September 1928, the search for mortal remains is still ongoing
  4. Jelača, Marija (Jovo), born 24 August 1913, the search for mortal remains is still ongoing
  5. Jelača, Milica (Mile/Milan), born 5 July 1925
  6. Jelača, Smiljana (David/Dane), born 25 July 1915
  7. Kesić, Dušan (Petar), born 20 May 1939
  8. Kolundžić, Mileva (Boško/Božo), born 30 November 1926,
    the search for mortal remains is still ongoing
  9. Sovilj, Danica (Miladin), born 1 January 1932
  10. Sovilj, Mara (Nikola), born 20 June 1923
  11. Sovilj, Mira (Branko), born 3 September 1950
  12. Sovilj, Radomir (Branko), born 14 February 1952
  13. Sovilj, Vlado (Mile), born 27 November 1931
  14. Surla, Ana (Milan), born 1 January 1945 / 1 January 1946 (sometimes listed as Ana Jelača by mistake)

It is difficult to establish the exact circumstances and timing of the individual crimes because none of the direct witnesses to these events are still alive. Some horrifying details of the crimes, which included rape and beheadings, were publicly testified to at one time by Svetko Bolta and Nikola Jelača, who hid in a nearby forest from where they saw everything that happened. They hid in the Lika forests for two months until they were discovered by the Croatian police. Jelača stayed in Gračac, while Bolta fled to Serbia. Both have since died.

Judicial consequences: The main trial against the accused Rajko Kričković, a member of the 118th Home Guard Regiment of the Croatian Army, for crimes committed against civilians after the military-police Operation Storm, from 15 to 28 August 1995, began before the Council of the County Court in Rijeka, chaired by Judge Ika Šarić. According to the indictment of the County State Prosecutor’s Office in Rijeka dated 4 November 2014, the accused committed the murder of three civilians in the village of Kijani near Gračac. Kričković killed brother and sister Radomir and Mira Sovilj with automatic rifle fire, while he set fire to their mother Mara Sovilj along with the house and livestock locked in the building on the ground floor. Rajko Kričković was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population. The verdict was delivered by the County Court Council in Rijeka chaired by Judge Ika Šarić. The verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia in 2021.