Written by Mladen Plece
The American authorities were aware of the details of the events which took place in Hrvatska Kostajnica and lasted for two weeks during which Croatian refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina attacked the Serb residents. President Tudman stated that the he had found out about the violence in Hrvatska Kostajnica from Mate Granic, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who in turn, had been informed about these events from Madelaine Albraight in Washington.
In spite of the fact that the CHC and Ivan Zvonimir Cicak have been constantly accused of being "traitors and telltales to their own country who sell their own homeland for Judas's coins", their statements and reports, which are sent to 2000 addresses, are received with trust and confidence. The agencies such as Reuters, AP and the New York Times referred to statements by with his two leading CHC officials, Ivan Zvonimir Cicak and Zarko Puhovski.
The CHC activists have recorded with their cameras the consequences of the violence against the Croatian Serbs which took place in the period between May 14 and 29, 1997. Eighteen CHC activists recorded the witnesses' statements given by 10 witnesses.
On May 15, the CHC team headed by their president I. Z. Cicak accompanied by American consul Bennet Y. Lowenthal, the UNHCR and ECMM representatives visited the scene of the events. Half an hour later the American consul stated that he had "understood everything" after which he returned to Zagreb and sent his report to Washington.
Apart from these, Ms. Albright had access to all the information that the Croatian Helsinki Committee passed to Peter Galbraith, the American ambassador in Zagreb. In a letter dated May 30, therefore immediately before the visit of Madeleine Albright to Zagreb, the CHC reports that "according to the 1991 census, 96 Croats and 53 Serbs lived in the village of Mracaj. The Croats were expelled in 1991 and the Serbs in 1995, after the military operation 'Storm'. In the period between May 14-21, 1997, eight family homes and eleven farm buildings were set on fire."
The Croatian Helsinki Committee passed the information to the former Hrvatska Kostajnica municipality, according to the 1991 census had 14,851 inhabitants, out of which 9,343 were Serbs, 4,295 Croats, 119 Muslims, 15 Albanians, 11 Slovenes, 6 Macedonians, 5 Montenegrins etc.
In the written chronology of the Kostajnica events, the CHC states that 8 persons of Serb and one of Croatian and one of Muslim origin returned to the Hrvatska Kostajnica area. This event served as the excuse to approximately 100 or 150 Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina, among which were persons wearing military uniforms, to attack the Serbs living in the area. The reports contain descriptions such as: "A group of attackers tied a rope around M.T.'s neck and dragged her while beating her with hands and sticks, after which they pushed her down the stairs, insulted her and kicked her again...D.B. was beaten and made put soil into his mouth...the attackers beat M.R. who tried to protect with his body his disabled wife who was in a wheelchair, then they attacked her and beat her brutally..."
The CHC report from the Mracaj village contains claims that on May 29, 1997 it was established that "there were 13 newly-burnt buildings and 3 other that had been burnt earlier". Madeleine Albright, during her visit to the Kostajnica area criticized severely the dismal Jure Radic in front of the burnt down house in Prevrcac, warning him that she was in shock because of what she saw. Later on, it turned out that she had been angry because of a cardbox sign in front of a house saying "this is inhabited by the Croatian army", which was translated to her as "this is occupied by the Croatian army".
Madeleine Albright concluded that "it is tragic that the Serb families live here as prisoners. Croatia has to remain a multi-cultural and a multi-ethnic country, and it will not become a part of Europe without its Serb and Croat citizens."