Testifying as a defence witness at the trial of Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac before the UN tribunal, Zdravko Zidovec said Operation Return had been carried out by Civil Defence units from Sisak to Split.
Each team also included a crime scene technician and a mine removal specialist, the witness said.
Their task was to gather bodies of killed people, while the crime scene technician was to examine the corpse, identify the uniform, take fingerprints, make photos of corpses and carry out other investigating proceedings. After that civil defence teams would bury corpses, the witness said.
In case of suspicion that death was not a consequence of combat operations but of violence, crime police would continue investigating, the witness said.
Asked by a lawyer for general Markac whether any high-ranking police officer received instructions to cover up signs of arson, murder or robbery during Operation Return, the witness answered in the negative.
He said that Civil Defence teams also set up first aid humanitarian centres for civilians in the area.
Teams searched a total of 48,000 houses with the task to remove corpses and carcases and prevent the outbreak of epidemic diseases that summer.
According to the witness, there were 902 corpses in the areas where Civil Defence teams were bringing the life back to normal.
The three generals are indicted for war crimes from Operation Storm according to their command responsibility.