Vukovar: Mass grave with at least ten bodies discovered at landfill

(Patria) - At the Petrovačka dola landfill in Vukovar, where trial excavations in search of missing persons from the Homeland War have been ongoing since April 2022, a mass grave with at least ten bodies has been discovered.

- I would not venture into calculating who these victims are. The fact is that according to the first preliminary examinations, these are victims from the Homeland War - said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Croatian Veterans Tomo Medved.

He points out that civilian clothing was found alongside the victims, but that this should not be misleading, as it is known that many Croatian defenders were in civilian clothes after the fall of Vukovar's defense.

He states that land analysis has determined that the soil was brought in together with the remains, which indicates that this is a secondary grave, about the possible existence of which the Ministry's services were informed by the Security Intelligence Agency at the end of 2021.

- Throughout this time, over the past two years, representatives of the State Attorney's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been with us, and when we finish our part of the work, they will carry out the work of determining perpetrators and responsibility, as well as filing indictments - said Medved.

He adds that during the trial excavations at Petrovačka dola, more than 90,000 cubic meters of various materials and waste were processed.

According to preliminary research and findings, Medved added, these are victims whose remains were moved from the primary location to Petrovačka dola in the first half of 1992, during the temporary occupation of the city of Vukovar.

He reminded that four mass graves have been found in the wider area of Vukovar in the past eight years, which, as he stated, is the result of a systematic institutional approach.

He told the families of the missing that Croatia will not tire in the process of finding missing persons from the Homeland War, and that the perpetrators of the crimes will be held accountable for their misdeeds.

The Chief State Attorney Ivan Turudić was also at the press conference, who stated that the perpetrators are responsible for the committed crimes, but also those who knew about them all these years and remained silent, and are still silent today.

He reminded that the investigative judge of the County Court in Osijek issued an order for exhumation two years ago, and that painstaking work was done for two years, only to achieve the first results in the last month.

He explained that the remains will be transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Zagreb, where the necessary analyses will be conducted and attempts will be made to determine the identity of the victims, and then to proceed towards the perpetrators.

He also promised the family members of the missing that the search for their loved ones will not stop.

The president of the Association of Families of Detained and Missing Croatian Defenders from the Homeland War, Ljiljana Alvir, said that more than 300 families are seeking answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones.

According to data from the Ministry of Croatian Veterans, there are currently 1,797 people from the Homeland War missing in Croatia.

In the last eight years, the remains of 170 people have been exhumed, and 263 people have been identified.

Excavations at Petrovačka dola continue, and at the same time, trial excavations are underway at the landfill in Bobota, also near Vukovar.

Medved met with family members of missing persons at the Homeland War Memorial Center in Vukovar.