Were the victims the Brisevo massacre Croat or Muslim?

[HenryIX]

A tad on the obscure side, I know. However, it is well-documented as a crime against humanity by the ICTY and Human Rights Watch so the information is there if one digs deep enough. It was purportedly the worst atrocity in northern Bosnia save for the prijedor massacre. The circumstances, perpetrators, and death toll are fairly consistent. What is unclear is the ethnicity of the victims. According to a purported witness, the victims were Croats. Human Rights Watch and the ICTY list the victims as “non-Serbs.” The Croatian version of Wikipedia describes the population of Brisevo as 91.36% Croat, with no source provided. Given that, I’m inclined to believe that the victims were Croats. However, there are references on Google where the author states the victims were in fact Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims). I’m confused and would be very grateful if anyone could share the truth about the killing.

[Grey]

Why could they not be Croats that were muslim?

Regardless, from the International Crimal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

The evidence is clear, the operation against the Brdo was an

23 operation to expel the population through “intimidation” and see the

24 Prijedor summary footnote 86. At least 3- to 350 people were killed in

25 the Brdo, and that is known to be only a portion of the total number of
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1 people killed. Indeed, another independent estimate was 500 to 700.

2 These bodies were taken to Tomasica mine, and the remainder of those

3 Muslims cleansed were taken to Omarska, Keraterm, or Trnopolje, where

4 many died or were killed. Another 68 were killed that same week in

5 Brisevo, a Bosnian Croat village.

[Tamerlane]

@Grey

Why could they not be Croats that were muslim?

Because it is one of those weird corners of the world where “ethnicity by religion” tends to be the rule. Orthodox=Serb, Catholic=Croat, Muslim=Bosniak. Language is essentially the same in all three cases.

Just from reading the eyewitness testimony it looks like the victims were Croat, the Bosniak thing is probably just an error that has propagated ( because many Muslims were also killed in nearby communities at about the same time ).

[Colibri]

@Grey

Why could they not be Croats that were muslim?

Only a tiny percentage of ethnic Croats are Muslim.

From Wiki:

The published data from the 2011 Croatian census included a crosstab of ethnicity and religion which showed that a total of 62,977 Muslims (1.47% of the total population) 9,647 declared themselves as ethnic Croats.[15]

So 15% of all Muslims in Croatia were ethnic Croats. 1.47% x 15% = 0.2% of the population of Croatia were ethnic Croatian Muslims.

The percentage of Croats that are Muslims in Bosnia might be a bit higher, but is probably still very small.

[Isilder]

It was a (Croatian) Catholic christian town, whereas Serbs are Orthodox.

However the town is just one part of the massacres, genocide and ethnic cleaning in the area.
Most of the victims in the area, as with elsewhere in Serbian Krajina (Serbs claiming a section of Bosnia), were muslim.

[Grey]

@Tamerlane

Because it is one of those weird corners of the world where “ethnicity by religion” tends to be the rule. Orthodox=Serb, Catholic=Croat, Muslim=Bosniak. Language is essentially the same in all three cases.

Thanks. I was under the impression it was more mixed that it actually is. Colibri’s math makes it even more obvious.