The indictment charges each accused with three counts of crimes committed from September 9, 1993, when the operation began, until September 17, 1993, when the Croatian Army troops withdrew from the area, situated about 150 kilometres south of Zagreb, just southeast of the town of Gospic.
Ademi was the acting commander of the Gospic Military District, while Norac commanded the 9th Guards Motorised Brigade.
The prosecutors regard the operation, carried out by Croatian Army and special police forces, as a legitimate operation aimed at regaining control of the occupied area known as the Medak Pocket, from where Serb insurgents were continually shelling Gospic.
The indictment alleges that Ademi and Norac violated the Geneva conventions relating to the protection of civilians in time of war and the treatment of prisoners of war, and that they did not acquaint their subordinates with obligations arising from the conventions.
The two generals are also charged with excessive and indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets in and around the villages of Citluk and Divoselo, as a result of which five Serb civilians had been killed and eight houses destroyed.
The prosecutors further claim that the two generals did nothing to prevent the murders of civilians and prisoners of war, the burning and destruction of housing, and the plunder of property in the aftermath of the operation, and to punish the perpetrators.
The indictment says that both accused were aware of the crimes because they visited the area frequently and were also informed by members of the United Nations Protection Force.
The indictment names 28 civilian victims and five military POWs, some of whom were brutally tortured and mutilated. Three of the prisoners survived the torture and one of them has been given protected witness status.
At least a hundred houses and as many farm buildings are alleged to have been blown up. The indictment also says that Croatian troops, with the help of civilians who were allowed access to the war zone, looted the valuable movable property of Serb civilians who had fled and killed some of their livestock.