Overgrown dirt roads leading to particular villages, far away from larger roads, hide the consequences of the persecution of the minority population. Villages and hamlets of Nebrizevac, Dragutinovici, Crnogorci, Kamenmost, Glavina, Ninkovici..., judging by the ruins, look as if they were on a front line, while in the village of Kraljevici no one is left. All together, more than 100 village houses have been blown up.
"My son, we the Orthodox have lived here for 300 years... We were like "finger and flesh" with the village of Cujici (nearest Croatian village, auth. remark), but what can you do... The peoples started a fight and we both went our own ways... It's neither good for us nor for them!" says 70 years old Anica Mandic, the only person in the village of Crnogorci who, probably because of her age, doesn't think it is dangerous to talk to the journalists.
There were no war operation in Imotsko and the surrounding area; however, numerous conscripted and volunteer warriors tested their explosives and ammunition on the villages with majority Serb population.
"Look, I'm not trying to justify all those explosions, but the Serbs were, even before "Plitvice action" [one of the first clashes between Serbs and Croats], getting organized and provoked the Croats with arms, " says Slavko Cujic. "There were a few good guys among them; they joined the Croatian national Guard with us. The Serbs demolished a car which belonged to one of them and threatened his family. You know what Imocani are like, they have a quick temper... So, when that madness started, who could have prevented that? During the operation "Storm" four men from Crnogorci were caught as members of Martic's Army [the Army of the now non-existent Republic of Srpska Krajina], all youngsters have left the villages long time ago... They say that the youngsters have all left for Germany, but they cannot all be there.
It is hard to justify the situation in the hamlet of Kraljevici, near Runovici, with somebody's "quick temper". Several hundred meters of now overgrown dirt road leads to twenty totally deserted and demolished houses. Eerily empty houses, garages, pantries, one almost untouched facade with a gaping hope in place of a roof, remnants of refrigerators, mattresses, piles of roof tiles and bricks... As if the whole village of Kraljevici was blown up at once, then burned and deserted. There are no people here. No witnesses. Exactly like in the villages of central Bosnia [where Croats were expelled by Muslims from their homes], except, there was no fighting here.
"We don't care about politics here," "adds" his wife.
"Listen, if we were in Split, I could tell you some things," says one of the passers-by, " but it is probably better to wait for now. You know, it's dangerous!"
"Take a picture of the church in Glavina Donja!" adds another man.
The [Serb] Orthodox church of the Resurrection of the Mother of God in Glavina Donja was built in 1772. Its inside is totally demolished. All valuable icons, church documents, decorations are missing. Destroyed furniture and the remnants of the altar are covered by plaster. The same church was recently shown on HTV [State-controlled Croatian TV] as "absolutely untouched". Of course, it was shot from the outside since only the stone walls had survived the explosive which had been set off inside the church. Consequently, the Church of the Resurrection of the Mother of God was turned into the church of St. Potemkin.