| Berak killings | |
|---|---|
| Part of theCroatian War of Independence | |
   Berak Berak on the map of Croatia, JNA/SAO Krajina-held areas in late 1991 are highlighted in red | |
| Location | 45°13′54″N19°01′40″E / 45.231667°N 19.027778°E /45.231667; 19.027778 Berak,Croatia |
| Date | September - December 1991 |
| Target | Croats |
Attack type | Mass murder,ethnic cleansing |
| Deaths | 44-45[1][2] |
| Perpetrators | Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia Territorial Defense,Scorpions paramilitaries |
TheBerak killings was the mass murder ofCroat civilians by Serb rebels and paramilitaries from September until December 1991, in the village ofBerak, nearVukovar, during theCroatian War of Independence.
During the September 1991Yugoslav Campaign in Croatia,JNA, localKrajina Serb forces and various paramilitary groups attacked and occupied several villages inEastern Slavonia and CroatianSyrmia (modern-dayVukovar-Srijem County) during theJNA-led offensive againstVukovar and adjacent areas. The village of Berak fell to Serb forces, which included local Serb rebels from neighbouring villages as well asScorpions paramilitaries, on 2 September 1991.[3]
Over the following months, until December 1991, Serb forces routinely abused, killed and expelled the Croat inhabitants who remained in the village. Croat civilians were killed in their homes, in the streets or in a detention camp set up by Serb forces during the occupation.[3] Croats were also tortured and several cases of rape occurred.[4] 27 Croat men were sent by Serb forces to theBegejci camp inSerbia, where they were subjected to forced labour and torture.[5]
Sources estimate 44-45 Croat casualties with 28 or 34 killed and 17 or 10 missing, respectively.[1][2] During these massacres, many of the bodies were thrown into wells or were buried in mass graves.[3][better source needed]
During the killings, the local Catholic Church of the Martyrdom of St.John the Baptist was vandalised and used as a bar for the Scorpions paramilitaries to consume alcohol.[6]
In 2014, the county court inOsijek cleared Croatian Serb rebel commander, Gojko Eror, of havingcommand responsibility for the killings, torture, disappearance and expulsion of Croat civilians, citing a lack of evidence. Dropping the war crimes charges, it modified the indictment to accuse Eror of a ‘criminal act of armed rebellion’.[2]