ICTY COMPLETED INVESTIGATION INTO OPERATION 'STORM' - NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Hina) - Investigators of The Hague Tribunal have reportedly concluded that a number of crimes violating international humanitarian law had been committed during the 1995 Croatian police and military operation "Storm", and suggested that three senior Croatian Army (HV) be indicted, "The New York Times" reported in its Sunday issue. A reporter with "The New York Times", Raymond Bonner, refers in his article to documents of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), saying they charge the HV with ethnic cleansing, indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations and random killings. According to the article, two high Canadian officers had testified, among others, in a three-year investigation into the events in the former Croatian UNPA Sectors North and South in 1995. General Alain Forand and Lieutenant Andrew Leslie testified that the town of Knin (a former Serb rebel stronghold) had been attacked with about 3,000 cannon shells over more than 48 hours and that the attack was indiscriminate and targeted civilians. According to their conclusions, the ICTY investigators have gathered sufficient material to establish that the three HV generals who commanded the operation - Mirko Norac, Ante Gotovina and the military governor of the Knin region, Ivan Cermak - could be held accountable under international law. According to the lengthy article, the Pentagon has argued that Operation Storm was a legitimate military activity. US officials also maintained they had cooperated fully with The Tribunal, while the Tribunal claims that during the three years of investigation the United States did not hand over the requested documents. An internal investigation has been launched within the ICTY with the aim of discovering the official who had given the 150-page report on the "Storm" investigation to "The New York Times" reporter, the daily said. (hina) rml