Account of an event · Crkvina · May 6, 1992 – May 7, 1992
Massacre of sixteen prisoners in the warehouse in Crkvina near Bosanski Šamac
On the night of around 7 May 1992, in the agricultural cooperative building in Crkvina, in the municipality of Bosanski Šamac, sixteen captured Bosniak and Croat civilians were beaten and killed, while thirty-four other prisoners survived in immediate danger of death. According to the ICTY indictment, the massacre was led by Slobodan Miljković "Lugar", who died before trial. The heads of the State Security Service of Serbia, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, were finally convicted in 2023 of crimes in Bosanski Šamac as members of a joint criminal enterprise.
The arrival of the Red Berets and the takeover of Šamac
On 11 April 1992, about fifty members of the Red Berets, a special unit of the State Security Service (SDB) of Serbia, landed by helicopter in Batkuša. Among them were men known by the nicknames "Crni", "Debeli" and "Lugar". Five days later, on the night of 16 to 17 April 1992, Serb forces took power in Bosanski Šamac. Non-Serb civilians, Bosniaks and Croats, were subsequently imprisoned in the prisons of Šamac.
One surviving detainee testified that he was beaten by Lugar and Debeli. According to the testimony of another former detainee, prisoners in Šamac were also beaten by Zvezdan Jovanović, a member of the same unit.
Crkvina, 6 and 7 May 1992
Around 6 May 1992, a group of prisoners was transported from the prison in Šamac to the agricultural cooperative building in Crkvina. The building still serves today as a warehouse and a shop selling animal feed.
On the night of around 7 May 1992, the prisoners were first beaten, and then sixteen men were shot. The remaining thirty-four had to witness the killings, not knowing whether they too would be killed. According to the indictment, the survivors were in immediate danger of death.
The indictment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) names Slobodan Miljković "Lugar" as the man who led the massacre, ordered the shooting and himself fired, together with several other members of paramilitary forces. The court considers him a member of the Special Operations Unit of the SDB of Serbia. In parts of the media his group is called "Sivi vukovi", but this name does not appear in the judgments.
According to the indictment, those killed included Ivan Agatić, Jozo Antunović, Ivan Bartolović, Luka Blažanović, Niko Brandić, Luka Gregurević, Sead Hurtić, Franjo Mandić, Ilija Matić, Ivo Mijić, Josip Oršolić and Ivo Tuzlak, as well as four unidentified men.
The indictment and the death of Lugar
On 21 July 1995, the ICTY issued indictment IT-95-9 (Simić et al.), which also covered Slobodan Miljković "Lugar". A trial never took place: Miljković died on 8 August 1998 in Kragujevac as a result of firearm wounds.
The mass grave
On 7 December 2008, a mass grave was found. The remains of sixteen persons were exhumed, of whom fourteen have been identified.
The judgments against Stanišić and Simatović
On 30 June 2021, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) established that the killing of sixteen men in Crkvina was proven. Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, heads of the SDB of Serbia, were then convicted of aiding and abetting and sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment each.
On 31 May 2023, the Appeals Chamber overturned the conviction for aiding and abetting and convicted both men as members of a joint criminal enterprise for murder, deportation and persecution, including in Bosanski Šamac. They were given a final sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment each.