Along with Vukovar, Škabrnja is also marking the 34th anniversary of the deaths of civilians and veterans in an attack carried out by members of the former JNA and Serbian paramilitary units under the command of Ratko Mladić on November 18th.
The attack on Škabrnja began early in the morning of November 18, 1991, from two directions. One column of tanks and armored personnel carriers with infantry trucks came via Zemunik Gornji, and the other from the direction of Biljani Donji.
The main blow and focus of the aggressor's attack was at the western entrance to Škabrnja, near the hamlets of Ambar and Ražovljeve glavica, where, with fierce fire support from enemy strongholds and air force, strong JNA tank and infantry forces, Serbian paramilitary forces from SAO Krajina, and volunteer groups from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were engaged.
Paramilitary forces and JNA members arrived at the center of the village and the Church of the Assumption only in the evening, driving captured defenders and civilians in front of the tanks as human shields.
Civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly, who had hidden in basements and other sheltered areas, were forcibly forced out, killed and massacred. About a hundred civilians, mostly women and children, were captured and taken to Benkovac.
After the attack, Škabrnja was burned and completely destroyed, the church was completely demolished, and the entire area was mined. Those civilians who were spared were later handed over to the Croatian side in the town of Pristeg, while the men were detained in Knin camps and later exchanged.
On the day of the attack, 43 civilians and 15 Croatian defenders were brutally killed and massacred, and in total, Škabrnja had 56 civilian victims and 25 defenders killed during the Homeland War. After the war, six more villagers were killed by remaining mines and explosive devices.
Until its liberation in the Military-Police Operation Storm in 1995, 86 people were killed in Škabrnja.
Only former nurse Zorana Banić was convicted for the crimes in Škabrnja. She was charged and convicted of violating international law, namely for participating in the attack and killing of the population in Škabrnja on November 18, 1991.
She was initially sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison, and after her arrest in Switzerland in 2001 and extradition to Croatia, she was sentenced to 13 years in prison in a retrial. After that decision was overturned in another retrial, she was sentenced to ten years, and the Supreme Court reduced that sentence to six years.
She was released from prison in October 2007.
The program of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Homeland War and the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Vukovar and Škabrnja, marking the 34th anniversary of the Škabrnja massacre, will include the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković, Minister of Economy Ante Šušnjar, Minister of Environmental Protection and Green Transition Marija Vučković, Minister of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation Damir Habijan, Minister of Demography and Immigration Ivan Šipić, and Minister of Tourism and Sports Tonči Glavina.
The program of the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Homeland War and the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Vukovar and Škabrnja in Škabrnja will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković, Minister of Economy Ante Šušnjar, Minister of Environmental Protection and Green Transition Marija Vučković, Minister of Justice, Administration and Digital Transformation Damir Habijan, Minister of Demography and Immigration Ivan Šipić, and Minister of Tourism and Sports Tonči Glavina.
The main program marking the 34th anniversary of the Škabrnja massacre begins in the morning with a commemorative program, followed by the Column of Remembrance - a march to the mass grave memorial and the laying of wreaths, followed by a holy mass for all those who died in the Homeland War.
The program ends with a "Step by Step" walk to the Memorial at the local cemetery of St. Luke.
Photo: HINA/Zvonko KUCELIN
