Varivode massacre

The Yugoslav People's Army (Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA) confiscated Croatia's Territorial Defence (Teritorijalna obrana) weapons to minimize resistance.

[5] On 17 August, the tensions escalated into an open revolt by Croatian Serbs,[6] centred on the predominantly Serb-populated areas of the Dalmatian hinterland around Knin,[7] parts of the Lika, Kordun, Banovina and eastern Croatia.

Milošević, preferring a campaign to expand Serbia rather than preservation of Yugoslavia, publicly threatened to replace the JNA with a Serbian army and declared that he no longer recognized the authority of the federal Presidency.

[15] On 25 June, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, officially severing ties on 8 October[16] and a month later the ZNG was renamed the Croatian Army (Hrvatska vojska - HV).

[22] As a result, the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) deployed to maintain the ceasefire,[23] and the JNA was scheduled to retreat to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

When its troops eventually withdrew, the JNA left their equipment to the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina (ARSK),[24] which Serbia continued to support.

In August 1995 the Croats launched Operation Storm, recapturing most Serb-controlled territory in Croatia and leading to as many as 200,000 Croatian Serbs to flee the country in fear or part of evacuation by the RSK.

[4] There were no witnesses to the massacre, although the survivors and relatives of the victims stated that people in military uniforms arrived in the village days before the attack, and robbed and abused the remaining Serb residents who had not left following Operation Storm.

The Supreme Court declared, "two months after the conclusion of Operation Storm, an act of terrorism was committed against the Serb inhabitants of Varivode for the purpose of causing fear, hopelessness and to spread feelings of personal insecurity among the citizens.

[41] The new monument is built out of stone, has the names of the victims inscribed in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, stands ten meters tall and cost the Croatian government 60,000 kuna to construct.

The nine Serbs were killed at a time when there was no war and they were innocent victims of retaliation, Josipović said while addressing the crowd of several hundred people after laying flowers at the monument.