ANYONE who thinks that the state can be an excuse for war crimes is seriously mistaken, the leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milorad Pupovac, said in Uzdolje, near Knin, on Thursday, in an address to a memorial ceremony for eight Serb civilians killed there in the wake of Operation Storm 25 years ago.

"Even more mistaken are those who think that peace can be built by ignoring killings like these and without showing empathy for the suffering that people endured," he added.

Pupovac said that the victims had been "perfidiously and inhumanely" killed by those who thought they were doing a big thing and that big things justified such crimes.

Pupovac said that the people attending the commemoration had gathered together to stand up to such thinking and belief, adding that they would continue to organise such memorials to condemn those crimes and encourage the authorities to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

"We will continue to gather together in the belief that by respecting the suffering endured by our compatriots, both Croats and Serbs, we will create a society of peace in which we will close the chapter on the war rather than reopen it every year, a society in which people will be able to live in peace and look to the future," Pupovac said.

"War crimes against Serbs seldom prosecuted"

SDSS MP Anja Simpraga warned that while the war crimes committed against Croats were recognised and formally commemorated and many Serbs were prosecuted and punished for those crimes, this could not be said of the war crimes committed against Serbs and of their expulsion.

"War crimes against Serbs have been seldom punished, particularly those committed during or in the wake of Operation Storm. The places of their suffering are marked and commemorated by Serb organisations only, and they don't seem to exist for the state and the government. The same is true of the expulsion of nearly 200,000 Serbs during Operation Storm alone, not counting those expelled during Operation Flash and those expelled from many towns outside the war zones," Simpraga said.

She said that there was no public awareness among the Croats of such large-scale suffering of Serbs and no awareness of the need to express regret and empathy.

"Condemnations of war crimes are getting fewer and fewer over the years and are giving way to callousness and unchristian ridicule, hatred of the remaining Serbs, intolerance towards what makes them different from Croats, and violence," she added.

Simpraga recalled that in addition to the 200,000 Serbs who had fled from Operation Storm, nearly 2,000 had been killed during or in the wake of the Croatian military offensive, and "hundreds of villages and a thousand houses" had been devastated. She said it was high time to shed light on the war crimes, what had happened during the war, and the damage that had been done not just to Serbs but to Croatia itself.

"It is necessary to stop the hatred and violence against Serbs and start building a society of tolerance and respect for diversity. It is also necessary to stop keeping quiet about other people's suffering during the war and ridiculing it but rather show respect for the suffering of all (both Croats and Serbs). That's what honourable warriors and wise and honest politicians do and what true priests preach," Simpraga said.

Stevan, Janja and Djurdjija Beric, Milos Cosic, and Sava, Milica, Jandrija and Krstan Sare were killed in Uzdolje on 6 August 1995. No one has been brought to account for these murders.