Convictions of Croat generals overturned

THE HAGUE: The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal overturned the convictions of two Croat generals yesterday for murdering and illegally expelling Serb civilians in a 1995 military blitz, and both men returned home to a hero’s welcome.
The decision, by a 3-2 majority in the UN court’s five-judge appeals chamber, is one of the most significant reversals in the court’s 18-year history and overturns a verdict that dealt a blow to Croatia’s self-image as a victim of atrocities, rather than a perpetrator, during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
The ruling triggered scenes of rapture in court and among Croat war veterans watching the ruling on big screens in the capital, Zagreb, but also produced fury in Serbia where it was seen as further evidence of anti-Serb bias at the tribunal. Even liberal Serbs warned it created a sense of injustice and could stir nationalist sentiments.
Thousands of people, including Croatian war veterans, celebrated in the main square of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.
On a lawn outside the tribunal, supporters sang, waved a Croat flag and sipped champagne, while the generals were returned to their jail cells to complete release paperwork before being flown back to Croatia.
A convoy of minibuses with a police escort sped out of the jail in the early afternoon carrying the generals to a nearby airport, from where they took off for home, tribunal spokeswoman Magda Spalinska said.
Gotovina and Markac were sentenced to 24 and 18 years respectively in 2011 for crimes, including murder and deportation. Judges ruled both men were part of a criminal conspiracy led by former Croat President Franjo Tudjman to expel Serbs.
The court’s chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, declined to comment yesterday on the appeals judgment.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic called the ruling “an important moment for Croatia.”
The country’s liberal president, Ivo Josipovic, said it was “proof that the Croatian army did not take part in a criminal enterprise” and “a symbolic satisfaction for all victims of the war.”
Vesna Skare Ozbolt, former legal adviser of late President Tudjman, said the verdict “corrects all wrongs about our just war,” and “proves that there was no ethnic cleansing in Croatia and that it was all lies.”
Tudjman died in 1999, while under investigation by the tribunal.
European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said the EU’s executive hopes “Croatia will continue to look to the future in spirit of tolerance and reconciliation which brought this country where it stands today on the threshold of EU membership.”