Gospić massacre The Gospić massacre was the killing of 100 – 120 civilians in Gospić , Croatia during the last two weeks of October 1991 , during the Croatian War of Independence . The majority of the victims were ethnic Serbs , arrested in Gospić and the nearby coastal town of Karlobag . Most of them were arrested on 16 – 17 October , based on lists drawn up nearly a week beforehand . Some of the detainees were taken to the Perušić barracks and executed in Lipova Glavica near the town , while others were shot in the Pazarište area of Gospić . The killings were ordered by the Secretary of Lika Crisis Headquarters , Tihomir Orešković , and the commander of the 118th Infantry Brigade of the Croatian National Guard , Lieutenant Colonel Mirko Norac . The killings were publicised in 1997 , when a wartime member of Autumn Rains paramilitary spoke about the unit ' s involvement in killings of civilians in Gospić in an interview to the " Feral Tribune " . No formal investigation was launched until 2000 , after three former Croatian intelligence and military police officers informed the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia about the killings . Five , including Orešković and Norac , were arrested in 2001 and tried . Orešković , Norac and Stjepan Grandić were found guilty of the crime and sentenced to 14 , 12 and 10 years in prison respectively in 2004 . Background . In August 1990 , an insurrection took place in Croatia centred in predominantly Serb - populated areas , including parts of Lika , near the city of Gospić , which also had a significant ethnic Serb population . The areas were subsequently named SAO Krajina and , after declaring its intention to integrate with Serbia , the Government of Croatia declared it to be a rebellion . By March 1991 , the conflict escalated into the Croatian War of Independence . In June 1991 , Croatia declared its independence as Yugoslavia disintegrated . A three - month moratorium followed , after which the decision came into effect on 8 October . As the Yugoslav People ' s Army ( JNA ) increasingly supported SAO Krajina and the Croatian Police was unable to cope with the situation , the Croatian National Guard ( ZNG ) was formed in May 1991 . The development of the military of Croatia was hampered by a UN arms embargo introduced in September , while the military conflict in Croatia continued to escalate — the Battle of Vukovar started on 26 August . By the end of August the fighting intensified in Lika as well , specifically as the Battle of Gospić continuing through much of September . The fighting resulted in heavy damage to the town and the flight of the bulk of town ' s population after which only about 3 , 000 residents remainined . Before the war , Gospić had a population of 8 , 000 , including 3 , 000 Serbs . Many Serbs previously living in the town fled but Croatian authorities urged them to return through television and radio broadcasts . As the Serb civilian population started to return in late September , Gospić chief of police Ivan Dasović proposed that a list of the returning Serbs should be drawn up , ostensibly for security purposes . According to Ante Karić , President of the Lika Crisis Headquarters ( " krizni stožer " ) , Dasović feared that the returning Serbs might harbour a Fifth Column , undermining defence of the town . Karić reportedly opposed the move , but the list was compiled on 10 October . A similar list of Serbs returning to nearby Karlobag was prepared on 16 October . The Battle of Gospić was followed by the killing of civilians in Široka Kula by Serbian paramilitaries on 13 October , which served as a pretext for the persecution of Serbs in Gospić . Gospić police were subordinated to control by the Lika Crisis Headquarters by dint of an order issued the then Minister of the Interior Ivan Vekić . as were the 118th Infantry Brigade of the ZNG and the military police based in Gospić . In addition , a paramilitary volunteer group , nicknamed " Autumn Rains " , controlled by Tomislav Merčep , was deployed to Gospić in September ; this unit was formally subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior . Killings . The Secretary of the Lika Crisis Headquarters , Tihomir Orešković , and the commanding officer of the 118th Infantry Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Mirko Norac , called a meeting of their subordinated and ordered the arrest of Serb civilians , their subsequent detention in the Perušić barracks , and killings . Sources disagree on the exact date of the meeting . According to Dasović , the meeting took place on 15 October , at approximately 9 : 00 p . m . , which he attended along with several other officials . Other sources , including subsequent criminal inquiry and trial witnesses , indicated the meeting was held on 16 or 17 October . The courts processing the case , including the Supreme Court of Croatia , determined that the meeting took place on 17 October and that Orešković and Norac ordered those in attendance to execute arrested civilians . Most of the arrests occurred on 16 – 17 October , both in Gospić and Karlobag . The civilians , especially Serbs , were led away at gunpoint from bomb shelter s starting on 16 October . Two days later , residents of Gospić witnessed civilians being loaded aboard eleven military lorries at the town ' s cattle market never to be seen again . At least ten civilians were killed at Žitnik in the Gospić area known as Pazarište on 17 October . The killings continued at Lipova Glavica near Perušić on 18 October , where 39 or 40 people were executed by firing squad after being held in the Perušić barracks where a battalion of the 118th Infantry brigade was based at the time . Three additional Serb civilians were arrested in Gospić and Karlobag on 25 October . They were also shot and their bodies retrieved in the Ravni Dabar area on 3 December . Aftermath . The massacre in Gospić was the most significant such atrocity committed by Croats during the war . Sources disagree on the total number of fatalities in the Gospić massacre , with estimates ranging from nearly 100 , to 120 killed . The official figures indicate that a total of 123 persons went missing in the area of Gospić between 1991 – 95 . Ten victims were dumped in a septic tank and covered with layers of clay and stone rubble in Gospić , later discovered by International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ( ICTY ) investigators in May 2000 , arousing complaints from the mayor of Gospić and street protests by Croatian veterans . 24 additional corpses had been burnt and disposed of near Duge Njive , a village east of Perušić , but retrieved by the 6th Brigade of the JNA on 25 December 1991 , examined and reburied in Debelo brdo , away from Udbina . Six of these had been buried in individual graves , and the other eighteen in a mass grave , but relatives of the six victims who had been interred individually , reburied the bodies elsewhere . The mass grave was excavated in December 2000 as a part of a criminal investigation . The victims ' homes were looted in the immediate aftermath by the Autumn Rains unit . In 1992 , several members of the unit were briefly imprisoned by Croatian authorities , but released without charge . In September 1997 , the now defunct Croatian newspaper " Feral Tribune " published a detailed eyewitness account by Miroslav Bajramović , one of the Autumn Rains troops , who claimed to have been involved in carrying out the massacre . In his interview , Bajramović stated that the unit was ordered to ethnically cleanse Gospić . He also claimed they were occasionally ordered by Tomislav Merčep , who had been an ally of Croatian President Franjo Tuđman , to " terminate " prisoners , and that Vekić was fully aware of their task . Bajramović and three other members of the unit identified in the interview were arrested , while Vekić denied Bajramović ' s claims and Croatian government officials denied any responsibility in the matter . In turn , the ICTY requested information on the four . By 1998 , two Croatian intelligence officers and a military police officer , Milan Levar , Zdenko Bando and Zdenko Ropac , approached the ICTY offering information concerning the events . Levar , who was later murdered , was particularly valuable as a witness as he claimed to have witnessed the deaths of about 50 people in the Gospić area . Ranko Marijan , the Justice Minister in a new government , criticised his predecessors and the police for their failure to pursue the case , but the authorities failed to protect Levar , who was killed in a bomb explosion on 30 August 2000 . The investigation of the killings in Gospić was a contributing factor in the criticism of the government ' s efforts by seven active duty and five retired Croatian generals who issued the Twelve Generals ' Letter making their grievance public . That led to sacking of the seven active duty officers , including Norac , by President Stjepan Mesić . The group included Norac , who had held the rank of major general since September 1995 . Trial of Orešković et al . . A formal inquest of the killings in Gospić was launched in late 2000 and warrants for the arrest of Orešković , Norac , Stjepan Grandić , Ivica Rožić and Milan Čanić were issued in February 2001 . Norac evaded arrest for two weeks , convinced that the authorities intend to extradite him to the ICTY . Relatives of Grandić , Rožić and Čanić , aided by residents of Gospić , attempted to prevent the police from arresting the three by surrounding the police vans sent to transport the defendants to custody . The opposition to the prosecution culminated in a 150 , 000 - strong street protest in Split on 11 February . The protests were repeated in Zagreb , where 13 , 000 protesters appeared . Norac surrendered on 21 February after he received assurances that he would be tried in Croatia rather than by the ICTY . A formal indictment was brought forward on 5 March , charging the five with the killing of 50 civilians in Gospić and Karlobag . The case was tried in Rijeka County Court , and included the testimony of 120 witnesses in the Rijeka court , 18 survivors of the 1991 attacks in Gospić who testified in Belgrade , and two Croatian nationals who fled to Germany fearing for their own safety . One of these two , surnamed Ropac , refused to testify because he distrusted government assurances regarding his safety . The case was ultimately appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Croatia in 2004 , which upheld the first - instance convictions of Orešković , Norac and Grandić , as well as acquittal of Rožić and Čanić . Orešković was sentenced to 15 years in prison , while Norac received a sentence of 12 years in prison . Grandić was imprisoned for a term of 10 years . Rožić and Čanić were acquitted due to lack of evidence against them . The trial was seen by a BBC News analysis as indicating a willingness on the part of the Croatian government to deal with war crimes committed by its nationals , following a long period of inactivity described by Rijeka County Court judge Ika Šarić as a " conspiracy of silence " . Bajramović and four other members of his unit were convicted in an unrelated case of killing and abuse of Serb and Croat civilians committed in Poljana near Pakrac in 1991 . They received prison sentences ranging from three to twelve years . , Merčep is on trial charged with command responsibility in war crimes committed in Poljana .