Gotovina was arrested in the night between Wednesday and Thursday in a hotel on the Spanish island of Tenerife, on a warrant issued by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He will appear before judge Degayon accompanied by a Croatian consulate official and a court appointed attorney, Spanish media said.
According to judicial sources, Gotovina will not have a court interpreter because his Spanish is good, according to Spanish press.
After he informs the Croatian general that he is charged with crimes against humanity and violations of laws and customs of war, judge Degayon will order that Gotovina be placed in custody and immediately extradited to the ICTY without the extradition process, in accordance with the 1994 Spanish law on cooperation with the ICTY.
Gotovina arrived at the Torrejon de Ardoz air base near Madrid at 18.42 hours, escorted by eight agents of the Spanish national police.
His extradition to the ICTY is scheduled for Friday.
Earlier today ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte said the ICTY determined in September that Gotovina was no longer in Croatia. We located him in the Canaries, she said. We had to determine his precise location and take all necessary steps to arrest him, del Ponte said. We cooperated with Spain and with Croatia and of course we have results, the prosecutor said.
Should he be transferred to the Hague on Friday, Gotovina will appear before an ICTY judge most probably on Monday to enter his plea.