Croatia condemns UN for convicting former generals

CROATIA HAS condemned a United Nations court for convicting two former generals of committing war crimes against Serbs during Zagreb’s 1990s fight for independence from Belgrade.

The UN tribunal in The Hague sentenced Ante Gotovina to 24 years behind bars and Mladen Markac to 18 years for their roles in the killing of dozens of innocent Serbs and the indiscriminate shelling of towns and villages when Croat forces reclaimed land held by ethnic-Serb rebels.

The men are regarded as heroes by many Croats for leading Operation Storm, which in August 1995 turned the tide of the war and ultimately brought an end to more than four years of fighting by helping to force nationalist Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic to the negotiating table.

A third general, Ivan Cermak, was cleared of war crimes charges and of forming what prosecutors called a “joint criminal enterprise” with his fellow accused and the late Croat president Franjo Tudjman to drive ethnic Serbs out of their ancestral homeland in Croatia’s Krajina region.

In its most damning verdict against Croatian officials and servicemen, the court found that former defence minister Gojko Susak and ex-army chief of staff Janko Bobetko had also been involved in the joint criminal enterprise. Like Tudjman, they died several years ago.

“The verdict is unacceptable to the government and we will do everything in our power to change it before a court of appeals,” said Croatian prime minister Jadranka Kosor, who said Operation Storm was “a legitimate military operation with the aim of liberating Croatia’s state territory”. Liberal Croatian president Ivo Josipovic called the court ruling “a serious political and judicial act that has shocked even me”.

“We are aware that crimes were committed but I am convinced that there was no joint criminal enterprise in the defence of Croatia,” he added. The verdict will increase pressure on Ms Kosor’s pro-Western government, which has been assailed by major street protests against its alleged mismanagement of the economy, its failure to tackle corruption and its inability to protect wartime generals from prosecution.

The government is also being pressed by Brussels to enact reforms that are vital to Croatia’s bid to become the next member of the European Union, an ambition that partly depends on its treatment of Serbs who want to return to their pre-war homes.

Thousands of people watched the court deliver its ruling on big television screens erected in Zagreb and other major Croatian cities.

“This is a verdict against the Croatian state. All of us have been convicted, including the Republic of Croatia,” said former army commander Branko Borkovic.

Dozens of protesters marched through Zagreb towards the headquarters of the ruling party, many carrying Croatian flags and pictures of Gotovina, who was arrested in 2005 in Tenerife after spending several years on the run.

“We announce a fight against those who brought Croatia into this situation,” said war veteran Zvonimir Trusic.