International Tribunal convicts two Croatian generals for war crimes against Serbs

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International Tribunal convicts two Croatian generals for war crimes against Serbs

2011-04-15 22:07:35 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Friday convicted two Croatian generals for war crimes against Serbs in 1995.

The tribunal convicted Ante Gotovina and Mladen MarkaÄ to lengthy prison sentences and acquitted one, Ivan ÄŒermak, of charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war committed by the Croatian forces during the Operation Storm military campaign between July and September 1995.

Gotovina was a Colonel General in the Croatian army and the Commander of the Split Military district during the aforementioned period. MarkaÄ was the Assistant Minister of Interior in charge of Special Police matters.

The two Croatian generals were convicted of persecution, deportation, plunder, wanton destruction, two counts of murder, inhumane acts and cruel treatment. They were sentenced to 24 and 18 years in prison respectively.

"This case was not about crimes happening before the indictment period. It was about whether Serb civilians in the Krajina were the targets of crimes and whether the Accused should be held criminally liable for these crimes," said presiding Judge Alphonsus Orie.

During trial, it was demonstrated that the Croatian military forces and the Special Police committed a high number of crimes against the Serb population during the international armed conflict in Croatia and in the context of many years of tensions between Serbs and Croats in the Krajina region.

The crimes were part of a strategy to permanently remove Serb population from the Krajina region by force or threat of force, deportation, and persecution through the imposition of restrictive and discriminatory measures, unlawful attacks against civilians and civilian objects, deportation, and forcible transfer.

The joint criminal enterprise came into force by around July 1995 in Brioni where the Croatian President Franjo Tudman met with high ranking military officials to discuss the military operation that began on August 4.

Tudman intended to repopulate the Krajina region with Croats. Other members of the joint criminal enterprise included Gojko Šušak, former Defense Minister, Zvonimir Červenko, Chief of the Croatian army, and other high-ranking political and military leaders.

Gotovina participated in the Brioni meeting and contributed to the planning and preparation of Operation Storm. Furthermore, he later ordered to unlawfully attack civilians and civilian objects through the shelling of Benkovac, Knin and Obrovac in August 1995.

MarkaÄ also participated in the planning meeting. He ordered the Special Police's shelling of GraÄac that caused the forcible displacement of persons. The Special Police also participated in the destruction and looting in several Serb villages.

Furthermore, MarkaÄ participated and encouraged the cover up of crimes committed by his subordinates; thus creating a climate of impunity amongst them by not taking appropriate action.

In regards to ÄŒermak, the Tribunal determined that he did not have effective control over Croatian army units outside of his own subordinates at the garrison. His participation in the joint criminal enterprise was not proved and he was acquitted of all charges.

Since its establishment, the ICTY has indicted 161 people for serious violations of humanitarian law committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001. Proceedings against 125 have been concluded and there are currently 34 proceedings ongoing.

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