In the TV program Studio 4, dedicated to the military parade marking the 30th anniversary of Operation Storm, broadcast on August 2 on HRT 4, analyst Pero Kovačević was a guest (available here, archived here). Speaking about reactions to the commemoration of Storm and to the operation itself, he also mentioned the number of civilian victims.
When asked by journalist Petar Vlahov to comment on the reactions of Serbian media regarding Storm, Kovačević replied that “Vučić, Pupovac, and various associations are speculating about the number of victims, talking about more than two thousand,” adding that Žarko Puhovski, in the Hague proceedings, had mentioned 667 killed members of the Serbian minority. After Vlahov interrupted him, Kovačević concluded: “Let’s tell the public the truth. The Hague Tribunal ruling established that 44 civilians were killed in Operation Storm. So, not two thousand.” (video in the article available here from 15:23)
Given the importance and sensitivity of the topic, the problem lies in the fact that Kovačević presented the figure of 44 as the total number of civilians killed. This led the audience to conclude that the number of victims was much smaller than it actually was. The number 44 refers exclusively to the cases that the Prosecution proved and that the court accepted within the scope of the specific indictment, not the overall number of Storm victims. This creates the impression that the court determined the complete number of victims, when in reality it was only a limited segment of proven crimes. Such selective presentation of data without context misleads the public by portraying civilian casualties in Storm as far lower than confirmed by both official and non-governmental sources.
The ruling of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the trial of Gotovina et al., to which Kovačević referred, records 44 civilian deaths in the context of the case against Gotovina, Markač, and Čermak. This is not the total number of deaths in Storm but rather the number proven by the Prosecution for the purposes of the trial and accepted by the judges as established facts. The court dealt only with a portion of the territory and time period relevant to the indictment. Thus, the figure of 44 killed civilians is a judicial fact in one case, not the overall number of victims.
Looking at official Croatian sources, according to the report of the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia (DORH) “Data on reports, prosecuted cases and victims of war crimes and proceedings related to crimes during and after Operation Storm” (available here, archived here), DORH recorded a total of 214 persons killed in connection with criminal cases (including war crimes). These data represent the official state review of recorded deaths within judicial investigations and proceedings in Croatia.
The same report by the State Attorney’s Office also cites data from the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights: “The most comprehensive data were published in the 2001 report ’Military Operation Storm and After – Report’. According to this publication, the total number of victims is 677. The publication does not distinguish between victims of war and victims of war crimes. Victims are divided into three groups: UN Sector South – 410 killed, UN Sector North – 191 killed, and killed or missing persons in the refugee column – 76 victims.”
The difference between HHO’s and DORH’s figures arises from different methodologies: HHO conducted broader field documentation of all victims, while DORH focused on criminal cases with identifiable victims and potential perpetrators.
According to the Directorate for Detained and Missing Persons of the Ministry of Croatian Veterans, the fate of 1,356 persons is still unknown, as is the burial site of 388 deceased persons, amounting to a total of 1,744 unresolved cases from the Homeland War (available here, archived here). The list of missing persons is published in the Book of Missing Persons in the Territory of the Republic of Croatia, including citizens of various nationalities. About half of them are of Serbian nationality. [1]
The NGO Documenta presented, on July 28, 2025, the most comprehensive data so far on casualties between July 25, 1995, and January 14, 2001, covering Operation Storm and five other military operations. The research covered 2,353 persons, of whom 1,791 were killed during Storm (August 4–9, 1995), and another 286 up to September 28, 1995 (the Varivode massacre). Of the 2,353 persons listed as confirmed or partially confirmed war victims, 1,747 were Serbs and 466 Croats. A total of 1,170 civilians died – 1,055 of Serbian and 60 of Croatian nationality – along with 918 soldiers and 228 with mixed status.
As Documenta stated, the aim of this research, published on the eve of the 30th anniversary of Storm, is to create the most accurate, evidence-based, and publicly accessible list of all victims – both civilian and military – regardless of their national, ethnic, or political affiliation.
The differing figures provided by Croatian institutions and NGOs result from different methodologies: DORH records judicially established cases, while NGOs such as Documenta seek to include all victims, even those not part of court proceedings. There are also significant differences in the time periods covered and other methodological factors, but in any case, all data point to a number of victims many times greater than the 44 cited by Pero Kovačević on HRT.
In conclusion, Pero Kovačević’s statement that “the Hague Tribunal ruling established that 44 civilians were killed in Operation Storm” is a false and misleading interpretation of the judgment, since the court did not determine the total number of victims but only a limited number of cases relevant to the indictment. This misleads the public into believing that this is the total number of civilians killed. Official state data indicate at least 214 killed, HHO reports 677, while Documenta records over 1,000 civilian victims. The claim of “44 civilians” therefore grossly downplays the scale of casualties.
[1] Although the Ministry of Veterans rarely provides data on the national composition of missing persons, earlier statements show that just under half of this number are of Serbian nationality. 2015. , according to the words of the Chairman of the Government Commission for Detained and Missing Persons, Ivan Grujić, the national composition of the missing was as follows: 930 Croats, 670 Serbs, and 200 persons with Serbian citizenship who went missing on Croatian territory.
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