The former officer of the Yugoslav People's Army, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in The Hague for aiding and abetting the torture of prisoners after the fall of Vukovar in 1991, welcomed the decision of the Hague Court in the case of Croatian generals Anto Gotovina and Mladen Markač, Radio Free Europe reports.
"I congratulate Gotovina and Markač for being free, for coming home to their family. I especially congratulate them that their country protects them and that the people celebrate them as heroes," he says.
He blames the crimes committed during and after Operation Storm on the politicians who led Croatia at the time, primarily Franjo Tuđman.
"If the international community thinks that such a large number of expelled people is not a crime, the generals are not to blame! They, like us, received tasks from the state, which they performed honorably. It's just that their country stood behind them, and ours are in constant fear of what this one will say, what that one will say.
Anyone can think what they want about the Croats, but they taught us a lesson in dignity and we should learn from them," believes Šljivančanin, who was released from prison on July 7, 2011, after serving two-thirds of his sentence.
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