The commemoration of the “Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Vukovar 1991” continued on Monday, with a gathering in the area of the former concentration camp in Velepromet where 724 detainees were killed. A wreath was laid at the memorial plaque in the yard of Velepromet, and many participants in the commemorative marking, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Croatian Veterans Tomo Medved and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ivan Anušić lit the candles.
Medved spoke about the importance of never forgetting these events and passing them on to younger generations. He also called on the judicial authorities in charge of prosecution to process all criminal charges that have been filed against the perpetrators of war crimes. Anušić also expressed the importance of holding the culprits of these crimes accountable, as well as sharing the brutal nature of the crimes committed at the camp.
According to the president of HDLSKL Vukovar-Srijem County, 724 Vukovar citizens were killed in Velepromet and no one was ever held accountable for those crimes. Meanwhile, the mayor of Vukovar, Ivana Penava, emphasized the need to bring justice to the criminals in order to move forward and heal as a society.
The former concentration camp in Velepromet was a place where captured Croatian defenders and civilians were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. It is estimated that approximately 10,000 Croatian veterans and civilians passed through the camp, with 724 of them being killed. The camp was closed in March 1992.
Today, the people of Vukovar will remember the victims killed and thrown into the tomb at Ovčara. On November 20, 1991, members of the former JNA and Serbian paramilitary units killed 200 wounded and civilians who had been taken from the Vukovar hospital, along with about sixty other people whose fate is still being sought, on an agricultural estate there near Vukovar on November 20, 1991. Numerous delegations will lay wreaths and light candles on the floor of the memorial on Ovčara.