"Although not a Croat, General Ademi made himself available to Croatia and is a true hero of the Homeland War. The Croatian people is in his debt and the town of Gospic should erect a monument in his honour or name a street after him," Sacic said, describing in detail operations of special police forces before and in the course of Operation "Medak Pocket" in September 1993.
Sacic believes that the "alpha and omega" of the operation was General Janko Bobetko, the then Army Chief-of-Staff and link with the state leadership. It was at a meeting with Bobetko and the commander of special police forces, Mladen Markac, that the proposal to launch the operation to liberate that part of the Lika region was made, Sacic said.
General Ademi on Monday accused Markac of lying when he said that he had not attended the meeting with Bobetko at which Operation "Medak Pocket" had been planned.
Sacic recalled that shortly before the operation, the then Brigadier Ademi, as commander of the Gospic Military District, had called him and the commander of Sector 1, Mirko Norac, to warn them that they had to fight honorably.
"He asked us if we were able to observe the Geneva Conventions and keep our units under control, and we both answered positively," Sacic said.
He added that his units, trained police officers, had been taught about the Geneva Conventions and the treatment of the wounded, prisoners of war and civilians.
"Those who were killed had weapons and fired them," Sacic said when asked by the prosecutor what he knew about the victims representatives of international organisations were mentioning in their reports.
Unlike former Interior Minister Ivan Jarnjak, who said that during his visit to Gospic at the time of the operation he had neither heard of nor seen Norac, Sacic confirmed that Norac was commander of the so-called Sector 1. He added that he had learned of Norac's appointment as sector commander from an order issued by Ademi. Sacic said that he had found it degrading, because as an officer sent to that sector he did not want to be subordinated to Norac.
Sacic was the first witness in the trial to speak about the circumstances of Ademi's replacement only a month after the operation.
He said that he attended a meeting along with Markac and some other military and police officials, at which General Bobetko said that the international community was exerting great pressure on Croatia because of violations of the international law of war. In a dramatic atmosphere, Bobetko said that he had to suspend Ademi and Home Guard commander Mile Kosovic and advised them to act as soldiers, who "as in war, must be ready for everything in peace as well", Sacic said.
After Sacic answers questions from the prosecution, defence teams, the panel of judges and possibly the accused, the witness stand will be taken by Josip Turkalj, another senior special police officer at the time of Operation "Medak Pocket".