We Have To Know: Paulin Dvor, December 11, 1991

Members of the 130th Battalion of the Croatian Army (CA) killed 18 Serb civilians in the village of Paulin Dvor, in the vicinity of Osijek, on December 11, 2010. The names of these civilians are: Milan Labus, Spasoje Milović, Bojo Grubišić, Božidar Sudžuković, Bosiljka Katić, Boško Jelić, Milan Katić, Dmitar Katić, Draginja Katić, Vukašin Medić, Darinka Vujnović, Anđa Jelić, Milica Milović, Petar Katić, Jovan Gavrić, Milena Rodić, Milka Lapčević, and Mariju Sudžuković.

The 130th Battalion of the CA also killed one Hungarian civilian, Kećkeš Dragutin. The killings were committed in Andrija Bukvić’s house, where the civilians were under house arrest. A number of soldiers of the 130th CA Battalion arrived at Andrija Bukvić’s home, fired automatic rifles and pistols, and threw hand grenades inside the house, thus killing the civilians who were inside the house, all in revenge for the death of their fellow soldier, Ilija Ravnjak..

Members of the CA buried the bodies first at the site of the Lug military storage, in the vicinity of Čepin, only to have them exhumed later and reburied in the village of Rizvanuša, in Lika, in 1997. The bodily  remains of the killed civilians were finally exhumed in 2002, after ICTY investigators found them.

The Republic of Croatia Supreme Court (RCSC) rendered a final judgment against Nikola Ivanković, a member of the 130th Battalion of the CA, in 2005, sentencing him to 15 years of imprisonment because of his responsibility in the act of war crimes against civilian populations committed in Paulin Dvor. The Osijek County Court acquitted Enes Viteškić, the second individual accused for this crime, on two occasions, but the RCSC dismissed the first instance acquittal for the second time and ordered a retrial before a different first instance trial chamber.

Presidents of Serbia and Croatia, Boris Tadić and Ivo Josipović, respectively laid wreaths at the memorial for the victims in Paulin Dvor on November 4, 2010.