Matići village marks 31 years since killing of eight Croatian youths

Thirty-one years after the events of August 7, 1995, the village of Matići in the Orašje municipality of Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a site of significant historical trauma. During the final days of Operation Storm, forces of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) launched a shelling attack on the civilian settlement.

The attack resulted in the deaths of eight young Croatian men, aged 15 to 18, including four individuals who were seminarians preparing for the priesthood. The shelling occurred without military justification and targeted a civilian population outside the immediate combat zones.

Despite the identities of those killed and the known origins of the projectiles, no legal investigations or prosecutions have successfully held the responsible parties accountable for the incident.