What happened in Matići on August 7, 1995?

Forces of the Army of Republika Srpska shelled the civilian settlement of Matići, killing eight young Croats aged 15 to 18 and wounding two children.

Who was responsible for the attack?

The attack was carried out by forces under the command of Generals Ratko Mladić and Momir Talić, and it is suspected that higher VRS command structures approved it.

Why was the attack carried out?

The attack was an act of retaliation for the defeat suffered by the VRS in Croatia during Operation Storm, which crushed the Serb rebellion.

Were the perpetrators ever prosecuted?

No. Although information about the attack and the perpetrators is known, no one has ever been held accountable for this crime, and no serious investigation has been conducted.

Croatia

Revenge for Operation Storm: 31 Years Ago, Eight Croatian Boys Killed in Matići

A.G. · Prije 2h | 2 min

Army of Republika Srpska shells fell on a civilian settlement with no military justification, and no one was held accountable for the crime.

Summary

On this day in 1995, VRS forces killed eight young Croats in Matići as revenge for Operation Storm.
The victims were boys and young men aged 15 to 18, four of whom were seminarians.
The attack was carried out without military justification, and the perpetrators were never prosecuted.

The settlement of Matići in Bosanska Posavina, in the municipality of Orašje, is the site of one of the darkest war crimes committed against Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On this day, August 7, 1995, in a revenge attack by forces of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), eight young Croats were killed and two children were wounded.

The attack was a direct retaliation for the crushing of the Serb rebellion in Croatia during Operation Storm. Forces under the command of Generals Ratko Mladić and Momir Talić turned their weapons on civilians in Matići, venting their fury over the defeat on the battlefield.

Shells on civilians without any warning

The victims were Damir Dominković (1977), Slaven Marković (1977), Ivica Marković (1978), Pejo Mikić (1979), Marinko Mikić (1976), Tomislav Pejičić (1976), Pejo Marković (1979), and Iljo Orkić (1980). All were between 15 and 18 years old. Four of them were seminarians, on their way to becoming Catholic priests.

The shelling came as a complete surprise, as military operations in the area had ceased weeks earlier. The projectiles were fired from a VRS-controlled zone and fell exclusively on civilians, far from the front lines. There are clear indications that the attack was planned and approved by higher command structures.

A crime without punishment

Although all the details of the attack are known, including information about the projectiles fired and the location from which they came, no serious investigation has ever been conducted, and no one has been prosecuted for this crime. "No perpetrator has ever been held accountable for this crime," states an article by Dnevnik.hr, which emphasizes that prosecution has been completely neglected despite the known perpetrators.

This event has remained almost unnoticed by the wider public, and the families of the victims have not received justice even after 31 years. The attack on Matići remains one of the many unpunished crimes committed against Croats during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.