CROATIAN GEN. ADEMI PLEADS NOT GUILTY

THE HAGUE, July 26 (Hina) - Croatian army General Rahim Ademi on Thursday pleaded not guilty at The Hague was-crimes tribunal to charges for crimes in the Medak Pocket region. "I plead not guilty," Ademi told the panel of judges presided by Portugal's Almiro Rodrigues. He said it was not necessary to read the indictment, which he was familiar with, but it was done nonetheless. Dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and tie, with a solemn expression, Ademi pleaded not guilty to all five counts of the indictment. The general, who surrendered to the UN Criminal Tribunal on Wednesday, did not complain about the conditions of detention or his health. He is accused of crimes against the Croatian Serb population of the so-called Medak Pocket region committed by Croatian forces under his command between Sept. 9-17, 1995. He is accused of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. Under the indictment, Ademi is charged on both commanding and individual responsibility for the persecution of the Medak Pocket Serb population, the killing of Serb civilians and soldiers, the destruction of Serb property, and failure to prevent the crimes. The Croatian attack on the Medak Pocket commenced with shelling of the area in the early morning of 9 September 1993. At approximately 06.00 hours, Croatian forces comprising units from the Gospic Operational Zone, including the 9th Guards Brigade and the 118th Home Guard Regiment, and Special Police Units of the Interior Ministry, entered the Pocket. After approximately two days of fighting, they had taken control of Divoselo, Citluk and part of Pocitelj, after which the Croatian advance halted, says the indictment. At this time, Brigadier Ademi was Acting Commander of the Gospic Military District. Following the intervention of international representatives, negotiations at a political and military level between the Croatian and Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) authorities were initiated, resulting in a Sept. 17, 1993 agreement on a ceasefire and Croatian withdrawal. During the Croatian military operation at least 38 local Serb civilians were killed as well as at least two Serb soldiers who had been captured. Approximately 164 homes and 148 barns and outbuildings within the Medak Pocket were destroyed, mostly by fire and explosives, after the Croatian forces had taken effective control. A substantial portion of this destruction took place between the cease-fire on 15 September 1993 and the completion of the Croatian withdrawal on 17 September 1993. Ademi "played a central role in the developing, planning, ordering and/or the execution of the Croatian military operation in the Medak Pocket resulting in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law, including the persecution and killings of Serb civilians and surrendered soldiers, and the plunder and destruction of Serb civilian buildings and property, in the Medak Pocket," says the indictment. Prosecutors also claim Ademi knew about those acts "having been informed by representatives of international organisations and others." Ademi "failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts, or to punish the perpetrators thereof," the indictment says. "At all times relevant to this indictment, a state of armed conflict existed in the Krajina region of the Republic of Croatia," it adds. The indictment says the Medak Pocket is approximately four to five kilometers wide and five to six kilometers long and consisted of the localities of Divoselo, Citluk and Pocitelj and numerous small hamlets. It was situated "within the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska Krajina (the Republic of Serbian Krajina - RSK) to the south of the city of Gospic in the Republic of Croatia." Prior to the attack, approximately 400 Serb civilians inhabited the area. The indictment says that for some time prior to that, an armed conflict had erupted between Croatian Serbs and Croatian forces. In September 1991, the Croatian Government stated that the Croatian Serbs and ex-Yugoslavia's federal army, the JNA, controlled about one-third of the territory of Croatia. The indictment says that on "19 December 1991, the Assembly of the Serbian Autonomous Region of Krajina, together with Serbs from other parts of Croatia, officially declared independence from Croatia and formed the RSK, with its own military force, the Srpska Vojska Krajina (the Serbian Army of Krajina or SVK)." It reminds that in February 1992, the United Nations Security Council established a UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) deploying them in U.N. Protected Areas (UNPAs) in Croatia where Serbs constituted the majority. "The Serb-held or disputed territories in Croatia that were outside the UNPAs were generally referred to as 'pink zones'," the indictment says, adding the Medak Pocket was situated in such a "pink zone", close to Sector South. The Croatian forces launched several military operations "against the RSK" in 1992 and 1993 in the UNPAs or pink zones, and the Medak Pocket was one of them. The 14-page indictment lists the names of 21 killed civilians and two soldiers. More than half were aged 60-86. Some had their throats slit and fingers amputated, some were incinerated, and one victim is said ti have had its genitalia cut off. Most victims were shot dead. The indictment was confirmed by Judge Fuad Riad on June 8, 2001. (hina) ha