Knin

Thousands of people celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Croatian military’s victorious Operation Storm in Knin - the first town seized back from rebel Serbs during the offensive in August 1995.

The Croatian website Index is reporting on Wednesday that the Operation Storm anniversary celebration organized in Knin was "chaotic."

Preparations to mark the 20th anniversary of Operation Storm are in full swing in Croatia.

This year, due to disagreements over the place and the manner of celebrations, they will last two days - there will be a military parade in Zagreb and a traditional celebration a day later in Knin.

BELGRADE - The Serbian Liberal Council (SLS) proposed to the authorities on Tuesday that a Serbian consulate should be opened in Knin, Croatia.

There are two consulates and the Embassy of Serbia in Croatia but the diplomatic representative offices are too far for Serbs living in the Kninska Krajina and places in the vicinity of Split, Zadar and Sibenik, SLS said in the proposition.

BELGRADE - President of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia Miodrag Linta said Tuesday he was not content with today's decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to dismiss Serbia's counter-claim charging Croatia with committing genocide against the Serb population during the 1991/95 war in Croatia.

THE HAGUE - The reading of the judgment on the mutual genocide lawsuits filed by Serbia and Croatia, for the crimes committed in Croatia during the 1991-1995 war, began at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Court's reasoning is being presented by ICJ President Peter Tomka, a judge from Slovakia.

BELGRADE - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that it was impossible to predict the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case of Serbian and Croatian mutual genocide accusations, but expressed the belief that the court would prove that it indeed was a "court of justice."

Serbia "expects ICJ to truly be court of justice"

BELGRADE -- Ivica Dacic says it is "impossible to predict the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Serbian and Croatian mutual genocide lawsuits.

But the Serbian foreign minister said he believed that the court would prove it was it indeed "a court of justice."

ZAGREB - Commemorations were held on Sunday for Serb civilians slain in the wake of Croatia's military operation Storm in the Varivode and Gosic villages in the Sibenik-Knin county, the Serb National Council (SNV) in Croatia said in a statement.

A Croatian military plane, a Russian-made MiG-21, has crashed on Tuesday afternoon in Donja Lomnica, near Velika Gorica in Croatia.

The plane was returning from celebrations marking Croatia’s 1995 victory over Serbian rebels in “Operation Storm” in Knin, Dalmatia, and fell just before reaching its base in the Velika Gorica area.