"Reactions started coming several weeks after Storm," Croatia's former foreign minister said during his cross-examination by prosecutor Stefan Wespi at the trial of Croatian Army generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
After prosecutor Wespi read out a segment of a statement by the then US Ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith, about the systematic destruction of the formerly Serb-held areas, Zuzul said that he could not remember hearing Galbraith say anything like that immediately after Storm.
"I was not under the impression that the international community possessed information about massive-scale violations of human rights in the wake of Operation Storm", said Zuzul, who is a witness for Gotovina's defence.
The three generals are charged with war crimes committed against Serb civilians during and in the wake of Operation Storm.
According to Zuzul, he was aware of the situation on the ground and of the crimes committed, such as plunder and arson, but he had never had the impression that this was a result of planned activities.
"I am aware that the international community expressed concern about the human rights situation and I conveyed (those messages) to the authorities. However, I can't use the term 'mass crimes' as I can't testify to which extent human rights were violated, but I can confirm that those crimes were undesirable developments and never a part of a systematic plan," Zuzul said.
The witness, who began testifying on Monday, reiterated today that the then Croatian state leadership took care about three strategic aims: to stop the Serbian aggression, establish control within Croatia's internationally recognised borders, and integrate Croatia into the European Union and NATO, which was why it took seriously requests by key international protagonists that the military operation should be swift and that civilians and UN staff should be protected.