Serbian crimes against civilian population in Petrinja area in 1991 – an example of the Kozbašić family

Tijekom Domovinskoga rata Petrinja i petrinjsko područje u velikosrpskoj su agresiji razarani, stanovništvo prognano, mnogi su civili i branitelji ubijeni, a navedeno je područje tijekom jeseni 1991. na posljetku i okupirano. Okupacija je trajala do kolovoza 1995., do „Oluje“. Uz prikaz konteksta situacije uoči počinjenih zločina, u radu će naglasak biti na slučaju ubojstva četveročlane obitelji Kozbašić u okupiranoj Petrinji. Rad je napisan uglavnom na temelju dokumentacije hrvatskih institucija te institucija pobunjenih Srba, a kao bitna dopuna korišteni su literatura i tisak. Petrinjski ugostitelj i medicinska sestra Milan i Gordana Kozbašić, s dvoje osnovnoškolaca, Tamarom i Alenom, ostali su živjeti u Petrinji nakon srpske okupacije grada započete 21. rujna 1991., a ubijeni su početkom studenoga iste godine. Poznati su identiteti dvojice okrivljenika za taj zločin, barem prema podignutoj optužnici na Županijskom sudu u Zagrebu krajem 2018. godine. Temeljito istraživanje takvih kriminalnih djela doprinosi otkrivanju počinitelja zločina i sprječava manipulacije žrtvama i brojkama ubijenih civila tijekom Domovinskoga rata.During the Homeland War Petrinja and the Petrinja area were destroyed due to the Greater Serbia aggression, the population was expelled, many civilians and Croatian soldiers were killed, and the area was eventually occupied in autumn of 1991. The occupation lasted until August 1995, until the “Storm Operation”. After presenting political and military context of the situation before the crime was committed, the paper will focus on the murder case of the four- member Kozbašić family committed in occupied Petrinja. The paper is mainly based on documentation of Croatian and rebel Serb institutions, literature and newspapers were used as an additional source. Local restaurant owner and nurse, Milan and Gordana Kozbašić,, with two elementary school children, Tamara and Alen, remained living in Petrinja even after the Serbs occupied the city on September 21st, 1991. They were killed early in November of the same year. The identities of the two defendants for this crime are known, at least according to the indictment filed at the Zagreb County Court at the end of 2018. A thorough investigation of such criminal acts contributes to the detection of perpetrators of crimes and prevents manipulation of victims and numbers of civilians killed during the Homeland War