ZAGREB, March 8 (Hina) - Ante Vukorepa, one of the lawyers for fugitive Croatian Army general Ante Gotovina, said on Monday that his client could not be held responsible for the crimes with which he was indicted because during the
period indicated in the indictment "he was waging war in Bosnia-Herzegovina".
ZAGREB, March 8 (Hina) - Ante Vukorepa, one of the lawyers for fugitive
Croatian Army general Ante Gotovina, said on Monday that his client
could not be held responsible for the crimes with which he was
indicted because during the period indicated in the indictment "he was
waging war in Bosnia-Herzegovina".#L#
"The indictment is unfounded. Gotovina was not in that area from
August 10, 1995, but was in Bosnia-Herzegovina waging war in
accordance with the Split agreement signed by Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina," the lawyer told Hina in a telephone interview.
The amended indictment, which the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal
made public on Monday, charges Gotovina with seven counts of
persecution, murder, looting of property, destruction of villages and
deportation as crimes against civilians and violations of the laws and
customs of war committed against Serb civilians in the Krajina region
during and after Operation Storm, from August 4 to November 15, 1995.
"From August 10 Gotovina was busy conquering territories in
Bosnia-Herzegovina without which there would have been no Dayton
agreement or peace in that country," Vukorepa said, adding that
civilian authority had been established in the areas cited by the
indictment and that military authorities could not be accountable for
the crimes that had been committed.
Gotovina is charged with exercising "de jure and de facto" command and
control of the Croatian forces during Operation Storm and with
retaining the same authority over Croatian Army forces that remained
in the southern part of Krajina after the operation.
Vukorepa said there could be no talk of "de facto" control if at the
same time Gotovina was in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and dismissed the charge
of the "de jure" responsibility" of his client by saying that civilian
authority had been in place by that time.
Numerous civilians who had been subject to the terror of Serb forces
soon returned to the liberated territory, and soldiers cannot be held
responsible for the behaviour of those people, which was frequently
motivated by revenge, Vukorepa said.
The lawyer said that it was being ignored that after Operation Storm
criminal charges had been pressed in more than 4,000 cases, mainly
against unknown perpetrators, and that 380 persons had been found
guilty and 39 of them had been given long prison sentences for
murder.
The Hague tribunal today unsealed the indictments against retired
Croatian Army generals Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak, which were
confirmed by Judge Kevin Parker of Australia on February 24.
Gotovina, Cermak and Markac are charged with involvement, along with
the late president Franjo Tudjman, in "a joint criminal enterprise"
aimed at "forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population from
Krajina".
(Hina) vm sb