Markale massacres
Encyclopedia
The Markale massacres were two bombardments carried out by the Army of Republika Srpska
targeting civilian
s during the Siege of Sarajevo
in the Bosnian War
. They occurred at the Markale (marketplace
) located in the historic core of Sarajevo
, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina
.
The first happened on February 5, 1994; 68 people were killed and 144 more were wounded. The second occurred on August 28, 1995 when five mortar
shells killed 37 people and wounded another 90. This latter attack was the stated reason for NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serb forces that would eventually lead to the Dayton Peace Accords
and the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
occurred between 12:10 and 12:15 PM, when a 120 millimeter mortar shell landed in the center of the crowded marketplace. Rescue workers and United Nations
(UN) personnel rushed to help the numerous civilian casualties, while footage
of the event soon made news reports across the world. Controversy over the event started when an initial UNPROFOR
report claimed that the shell was fired from Bosnian government positions. General Michael Rose
, the British head of UNPROFOR, revealed in his memoirs that three days after the blast he told General
Jovan Divjak
, the deputy commander of ARBiH forces, that the shell had been fired from Bosnian positions. A later and more in-depth UNPROFOR report noted a calculation error in the original findings. With the error corrected, the United Nations concluded that it was impossible to determine which side had fired the shell. In January 2003, the ICTY Trial Chamber in the trial against Stanislav Galić
, a Serb general in the siege of Sarajevo, concluded that the massacre was committed by Serb forces around Sarajevo. General Galić was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes against humanity during the Siege of Sarajevo.
, UNPROFOR considered the evidence clear: a confidential report from shortly after the event concluded that all five rounds had been fired by the Army of Republika Srpska. As soon as technical and weather conditions allowed, and the safety of UN personnel traveling through Serb territory was secured, Operation Deliberate Force commenced.
Russian colonel Andrei Demurenko asserted that UNPROFOR's research was flawed, as it began from the conclusion that the shells were fired from Serbian positions and didn't test any other hypothesis; and that he, immediately visiting supposed mortar locations found that neither of them could be used to fire the shells. He concludes that Serbian forces were falsely blamed for the attack in order to give justification for NATO attacks on Serbs.
David Harland, former head of UN Civil Affairs in Bosnia, claimed at the trial of General Dragomir Milošević
in ICTY that he was responsible for the creation of the myth that UNPROFOR was unable to determine who had fired the mortar shells that caused the second Markale massacre. The myth that has survived for more than ten years, Harland said was created because of a “neutral statement” made by General Rupert Smith
, the UNPROFOR commander. On the day of the second attack on Markale, General Smith stated “it is unclear who fired the shells, although at that time he already had the technical report of UNPROFOR intelligence section, determining beyond reasonable doubt that they were fired from VRS
positions at Lukavica”. Harland’s responsibility lies in the fact that he himself advised General Smith to make “a neutral statement in order not to alarm the Serbs who would be alerted to the impending NATO air strikes against their positions had he pointed a finger at them”. That would have jeopardized the safety of UN troops in the territory under VRS control or on positions where they might have been vulnerable to retaliatory attacks by Serb forces. In 2007, a Serb general, Dragomir Milošević
, former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was found guilty of the shelling and sniper terror campaign against Sarajevo and its citizens from August 1994 to late 1995. Milošević was sentenced to 33 years in prison. The Trial Chamber concluded that the Markale town market was hit on August 28, 1995 by a 120 mm mortar shell fired from the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps positions.
, a Bosnian-Serb general, Sarajevo-Romanija Corps commander in the siege of Sarajevo, introduced into evidence a report including the testimony of ammunition expert Berko Zečević. Working with two colleagues, Zečević's investigation revealed a total of six possible locations from which the shell in the first Markale massacre could have been fired, of which five were under VRS and one under ARBiH control. The ARBiH site in question was visible to UNPROFOR observers at the time, who reported that no shell was fired from that position. Zečević further reported that certain components of the projectile could only have been fired from one of two places, both of which were under the control of the Army of Republika Srpska. The court would eventually find Galić guilty beyond reasonable doubt of all five shellings prosecutors had charged him with, including Markale. Although widely reported by the international media, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
noted that the verdict was ignored in Serbia
itself.
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...
targeting civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s during the Siege of Sarajevo
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
in the Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
. They occurred at the Markale (marketplace
Marketplace
A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
) located in the historic core of Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
.
The first happened on February 5, 1994; 68 people were killed and 144 more were wounded. The second occurred on August 28, 1995 when five mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
shells killed 37 people and wounded another 90. This latter attack was the stated reason for NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serb forces that would eventually lead to the Dayton Peace Accords
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
and the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
First massacre
The first massacreMassacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
occurred between 12:10 and 12:15 PM, when a 120 millimeter mortar shell landed in the center of the crowded marketplace. Rescue workers and United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
(UN) personnel rushed to help the numerous civilian casualties, while footage
Footage
In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work...
of the event soon made news reports across the world. Controversy over the event started when an initial UNPROFOR
United Nations Protection Force
The United Nations Protection Force ', was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav wars. It existed between the beginning of UN involvement in February 1992, and its restructuring into other forces in March 1995...
report claimed that the shell was fired from Bosnian government positions. General Michael Rose
Hugh Michael Rose
General Sir Hugh Michael Rose KCB, CBE, DSO, QGM , often known as Mike Rose, is a retired British Army General. As well as commanding 22 Special Air Service Regiment, he was Commander UNPROFOR Bosnia in 1994 during the Yugoslav Wars.-Early life:The stepson of British author John Masters, Rose was...
, the British head of UNPROFOR, revealed in his memoirs that three days after the blast he told General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Jovan Divjak
Jovan Divjak
Jovan Divjak was a Bosnian general in the Bosnian army during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. He was the deputy commander of the Main Staff until 1994. Although he was born to Serbian parents, he is a self-declared Bosnian.-Early life and military career:He was born in Belgrade to Serbian parents...
, the deputy commander of ARBiH forces, that the shell had been fired from Bosnian positions. A later and more in-depth UNPROFOR report noted a calculation error in the original findings. With the error corrected, the United Nations concluded that it was impossible to determine which side had fired the shell. In January 2003, the ICTY Trial Chamber in the trial against Stanislav Galić
Stanislav Galic
Stanislav Galić is a Bosnian Serb soldier and former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was convicted of war crimes....
, a Serb general in the siege of Sarajevo, concluded that the massacre was committed by Serb forces around Sarajevo. General Galić was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes against humanity during the Siege of Sarajevo.
Second massacre
The second massacre occurred about 18 months later, at around 11:00 AM on August 28, 1995. This time, five shells were fired, but casualties were fewer—37 dead and 90 wounded. Serbian authorities, as in the 1994 incident, denied all responsibility and accused the Bosnian government of bombarding its own people to incite international outrage and possible intervention. A 1999 report to the United Nations General AssemblyUnited Nations General Assembly
For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
, UNPROFOR considered the evidence clear: a confidential report from shortly after the event concluded that all five rounds had been fired by the Army of Republika Srpska. As soon as technical and weather conditions allowed, and the safety of UN personnel traveling through Serb territory was secured, Operation Deliberate Force commenced.
Russian colonel Andrei Demurenko asserted that UNPROFOR's research was flawed, as it began from the conclusion that the shells were fired from Serbian positions and didn't test any other hypothesis; and that he, immediately visiting supposed mortar locations found that neither of them could be used to fire the shells. He concludes that Serbian forces were falsely blamed for the attack in order to give justification for NATO attacks on Serbs.
David Harland, former head of UN Civil Affairs in Bosnia, claimed at the trial of General Dragomir Milošević
Dragomir Miloševic
Dragomir Milošević is a Serb war criminal and former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska which besieged Sarajevo for three years during the Bosnian war.-Background:He was an officer in the Yugoslav National Army prior to 1992...
in ICTY that he was responsible for the creation of the myth that UNPROFOR was unable to determine who had fired the mortar shells that caused the second Markale massacre. The myth that has survived for more than ten years, Harland said was created because of a “neutral statement” made by General Rupert Smith
Rupert Smith
General Sir Rupert Smith KCB, DSO & Bar, OBE, QGM was an officer in the British Army until his retirement in 2002. He was educated at the Haileybury and Imperial Service College and later at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.- Military career :...
, the UNPROFOR commander. On the day of the second attack on Markale, General Smith stated “it is unclear who fired the shells, although at that time he already had the technical report of UNPROFOR intelligence section, determining beyond reasonable doubt that they were fired from VRS
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...
positions at Lukavica”. Harland’s responsibility lies in the fact that he himself advised General Smith to make “a neutral statement in order not to alarm the Serbs who would be alerted to the impending NATO air strikes against their positions had he pointed a finger at them”. That would have jeopardized the safety of UN troops in the territory under VRS control or on positions where they might have been vulnerable to retaliatory attacks by Serb forces. In 2007, a Serb general, Dragomir Milošević
Dragomir Miloševic
Dragomir Milošević is a Serb war criminal and former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska which besieged Sarajevo for three years during the Bosnian war.-Background:He was an officer in the Yugoslav National Army prior to 1992...
, former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was found guilty of the shelling and sniper terror campaign against Sarajevo and its citizens from August 1994 to late 1995. Milošević was sentenced to 33 years in prison. The Trial Chamber concluded that the Markale town market was hit on August 28, 1995 by a 120 mm mortar shell fired from the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps positions.
Trial
In January 2004, prosecutors in the trial against Stanislav GalićStanislav Galic
Stanislav Galić is a Bosnian Serb soldier and former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Army of Republika Srpska during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was convicted of war crimes....
, a Bosnian-Serb general, Sarajevo-Romanija Corps commander in the siege of Sarajevo, introduced into evidence a report including the testimony of ammunition expert Berko Zečević. Working with two colleagues, Zečević's investigation revealed a total of six possible locations from which the shell in the first Markale massacre could have been fired, of which five were under VRS and one under ARBiH control. The ARBiH site in question was visible to UNPROFOR observers at the time, who reported that no shell was fired from that position. Zečević further reported that certain components of the projectile could only have been fired from one of two places, both of which were under the control of the Army of Republika Srpska. The court would eventually find Galić guilty beyond reasonable doubt of all five shellings prosecutors had charged him with, including Markale. Although widely reported by the international media, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
The Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to human rights and presumably named after the Helsinki Accords...
noted that the verdict was ignored in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
itself.
See also
- Command responsibilityCommand responsibilityCommand responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, and also known as superior responsibility, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
- Joint Criminal EnterpriseJoint Criminal EnterpriseJoint criminal enterprise ' is a legal doctrine used by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to prosecute political and military leaders for mass war crimes, including genocide, committed during the Yugoslav wars 1991-1999....
- Siege of SarajevoSiege of SarajevoThe Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
- Srebrenica genocide
- Yugoslav warsYugoslav warsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
- Role of the media in the Yugoslav wars
- Serbian war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars