Voćin massacre The Voćin massacre was the killing of 43 civilians , mostly Croats , by the Serbian White Eagles paramilitary unit in Voćin , Croatia on 13 December 1991 , during the Croatian War of Independence . The massacre was carried out after the unit was ordered to abandon the village before the Croatian Army ( " Hrvatska vojska " – HV ) recaptured the area in Operation Papuk - 91 . The unit generally targeted Croats living in the village , but also killed a Serb civilian who tried to protect others . Most of the victims were killed by gunfire , but some of them were killed with axes or chainsaws , or were burned to death . The victims exhibited signs of torture and were left unburied . On the night of 13 / 14 December , the unit also demolished a 550 - year old church in the village using explosives . The HV secured Voćin on the night of 14 / 15 December , the Serb population having left the previous night . Afterwards , Croatian soldiers torched many homes belonging to the Serbs who had once inhabited the village . The area was toured by US Congressman Frank McCloskey shortly afterwards . McCloskey publicised the killings at a news conference held in Zagreb the next day , deeming them genocide . He then persuaded Jerry Blaskovich , an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California Los Angeles County Hospital Medical Center to take part in the investigation of the killings . The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ( ICTY ) later charged Slobodan Milošević with the killings and Vojislav Šešelj with the deportation of non - Serbs from Voćin . Background . Within the 1991 Yugoslav campaign in Croatia , the 5th ( Banja Luka ) Corps of the Yugoslav People ' s Army ( " Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija " – JNA ) was tasked with advancing north through western Slavonia , from Okučani to Daruvar and Virovitica , and with a secondary drive from Okučani towards Kutina . This task was essentially consistent with the line expected to be reached by the main thrust of the JNA advancing from eastern Slavonia in about a week . The linkup was designed to facilitate a further advance west to Zagreb and Varaždin . The JNA was stopped by the Croatian National Guard ( " Zbor Narodne Garde " – ZNG ) between Novska , Nova Gradiška and Pakrac , even though SAO Western Slavonia Territorial Defense Forces ( " Teritorijalna odbrana " – TO ) units took positions on the Bilogora and Papuk north of Pakrac , near Virovitica and Slatina with no JNA support . The TO was supported by Serbian paramilitaries deploying to the village of Voćin on the Papuk Mountain in October . The paramilitaries were the White Eagles under control of Vojislav Šešelj . He visited Voćin in the following month and incited the paramilitaries to persecute the Croat population . According to testimonies of surviving residents of Voćin , the White Eagles and several local Serbs terrorised the Croat population , reduced to 80 by late 1991 . Prior to the war , ethnic Serbs formed eighty percent of the village ' s population . On 29 October , the ZNG launched Operation Hurricane - 91 against positions held by the JNA and the TO near Novska and Nova Gradiška , and Operation Swath - 10 against the TO positions on the Bilogora Mountain south of Virovitica . Aiming to exploit the success of Operation Swath - 10 and recapture Papuk area , Croatian forces , renamed the Croatian Army ( " Hrvatska vojska " – HV ) instead the ZNG since 3 November , launched Operation Papuk - 91 on 28 November . Killings . The HV started to advance in the area of Đulovac , located approximately west of Voćin , on 12 December , and the TO were forced to retreat from the area . In turn , the White Eagles were to abandon Voćin , but were ordered to take no prisoners . They were also instructed to ensure evacuation of Serb population . Those who refused to leave were threatened and one person was killed in front of his home . Killing of civilians living in Voćin and two nearby smaller villages began on 13 December at noon . The White Eagles infantry , supported by at least one tank , moved through Voćin bombing Croat - owned houses and killing civilians . The killings and the destruction took twelve hours and claimed lives of 43 civilians . Bodies of the victims were mutilated and left on display , presumably as a warning to others , outside Voćin itself , to flee or perish . All the victims were Croat civilians , except one 77 - year old Serb who was reported to had tried to protect his neighbours from the paramilitaries . Most of the victims were elderly , including twelve women aged 56 – 76 and eleven men aged 60 – 84 . Many of those killed were tortured , beaten using chains and burned . Most of the victims were killed by gunshots , but the cause of death proved hard to establish for eight victims whose bodies were severely burned . A couple was bound with chains and burned alive , two women were killed using axes or similar sharp objects , one of them by several axe blows to her head . Another couple was beheaded and their heads were placed in bags . One of the victims was cut by a chain saw while still alive , and another died trapped in her house which was torched by the paramilitaries . The Serb civilian who attempted to protect the others was also beaten , tortured using lighted cigarettes and heated chains , and then flayed . At 3 : 00 a . m . , the paramilitaries demolished the Roman Catholic church of the Pilgrimage to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Voćin . They used the 550 - year old structure as an ammunition depot . In the wake of the explosion , a single wall of the structure remained standing . It is estimated that several tons of explosives were used for the purpose . At the same time , approximately 20 other Croat inhabitants of villages of Bokane , Krašković , Miokovićevo and Zvečevo , further to the south , were reported to have been killed . Aftermath . The HV captured Voćin on the night of 14 / 15 December , the village ' s Serb population having withdrawn the night before . Afterwards , Croatian soldiers torched many homes that belonged to the Serbs who had once inhabited the village . One of the first to arrive in the village following its re - capture was US Congressman Frank McCloskey , who was in Croatia on a fact - finding mission . McCloskey asked Pat Mackley to arrange a press conference in Zagreb the next day , while Mackley persuaded Jerry Blaskovich , an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California Los Angeles County Hospital Medical Center , sent to Croatia to investigate alleged use of chemical weapons , to take part in the investigation of the killings . At the conference , McCloskey described the killings as an act of genocide . CNN reporter Mark Dalmish refused to attend the press conference because the network distrusted the reports of the killings , and only became interested in the event once Blaskovich ' s involvement was announced . The victims ' bodies were taken to the nearby town of Slatina for forensic examination on 17 December . Mackley contacted Croatian authorities and obtained permission to document the autopsies of the victims , but was denied access by authorities in Slatina . Mackley in turn telephoned Croatian Defence Minister Gojko Šušak asking him to intervene on his behalf , but the local police disobeyed Šušak as well . The special police was deployed to Slatina to enforce Šušak ' s order to cooperate , almost causing an armed clash over the issue . In order to settle matters , a team was sent to Slatina by Zagreb University ' s Institute for Forensic Medicine to perform several autopsies , retrieve bodies and perform the rest of the procedures in Zagreb . Survivors who took shelter in basements or cornfields , as well as a captured member of the paramilitary forces , later testified about the killings and identified the White Eagles as the perpetrators . In addition , the withdrawing paramilitaries left critical evidence behind , including personnel records confirming the force was indeed the White Eagles associated with Šešelj . US investigator for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ( ICTY ) John Cencich later corroborated the information in an interview with a witness linking Slobodan Milošević , then president of Serbia to the killings . The ICTY charged Milošević with the deaths of 32 civilians in Voćin . Milošević was subsequently arrested and tried , but he died before his trial was completed . The ICTY also charged Šešelj with involvement in the forced deportation of non - Serb civilians from Voćin , but his trial is still in progress .