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ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatian lawmakers on Friday passed a bill that compensates the victims of rape during the country's war for independence more than twenty years ago — a move hailed as a late but important step in healing the wounds of the 1991-95 conflict.
Parliament passed the legislation — which entitles the victims to a one-time compensation of some 13,000 euros ($14,000), a monthly allowance, as well as health care, counseling and legal aid — with 86 votes in favor and three abstentions.
Experts have estimated that several thousand women suffered some form of sexual violence during the war that broke out when Croatia declared independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991. However, only small numbers have sought justice in Croatian courts and experts are hopeful more women will now come forward.
The Croat-Serb conflict broke out when Croatia's Serbs — backed by the Yugoslav army — rebelled against the country's independence, taking control over one third of the territory, setting up a self-styled state and expelling and killing thousands of Croats. The eastern town of Vukovar, which was heavily bombed by the Yugoslav army, was worst hit.
Ana Horvatinec and her daughter were repeatedly raped by several Serb soldiers while in captivity after the fall of Vukovar in November 1991. Now 66, Horvatinec has spent the last 20 years in therapy and on medication.
She said the compensation came too late, but that it was "better late than never."
"Justice is not just a word," Horvatinec said. "Sure, the law will change my life... financially, but more than everything I am a human being again."
Dubravka Jagodic, a Serb, was raped and her husband was killed in Virovitica, a town near the Hungarian border, in 1991. A Croatian fighter forced her to take her clothes off by pointing a gun to her son's head. Jagodic, now 52, said that "no money can compensate what happened to me and my children."
"I just want to see justice done," she said.
Thousands of women were also raped during the 1990s wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. The two countries have included rape compensation in existing laws.
Croatian experts said that addressing the issue and compensating the victims was important in dealing with the trauma.
"Admitting their suffering through such a law is definitely a step forward," said psychologist Marijana Senjak, who worked with the victims. "This was a very dark page of the wars of the 1990s."
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