Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač, who were acquitted by the Appeals Chamber of the Hague Tribunal on all counts of the indictment, landed a few minutes ago at Zagreb's Pleso airport.
At the Zagreb airport, they were welcomed by the Prime Minister of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, and the President of the Croatian Parliament, Josip Leko, as well as a large number of other citizens.
Gotovina and Markač were accused of war crimes against Serbs during and after the "Storm" - persecutions, deportations, inhuman treatment, murders, looting of public and private property and wanton destruction of towns and villages.
"This is our joint victory. There was a war storm, and this was a legal storm. This is the dot on the "i". Ante, Ante".
Gotovina thanked all state institutions, in particular highlighting the President of Croatia and the Prime Minister, as well as the Ministers of Defense and Justice. At the mention of the president and prime minister, the crowd whistled.
"The future is in front of us, in our hands, and we are all together. Thank you and good luck," added Gotovina.
Mladen Markač and Ante Gotovina
Upon his arrival home, after eight years of detention in The Hague, General Mladen Markač of the Croatian Army thanked everyone who was with them when it was the hardest.
"I always carried my homeland in my heart, I knew that I was not alone and it was much easier for me. I knew that there was no criminal enterprise. I am happy that in the future every Croat, anywhere in the world, will say that we have a Croatian homeland and we liberated is without any stain. We won a wonderful victory that goes down in the world annals of victories, Croatia is free," said Markač.
Celebration in Zagreb with a picture of Gotovina and Markač
He emphasized that Croatia created an armed force that defeated the aggressor.
The president of the court in The Hague, Teodor Meron, ordered the immediate release of the generals, and according to the Croatian media, they have already left the prison in Scheveningen.
On April 15, 2011, Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years in prison in the first-instance proceedings before the Hague Court, Markač to 18 years, while General Ivan Cermak was acquitted and the Prosecution did not appeal that decision.
At the time of the "Storm", Gotovina was the commander of the Split Military District, and Markač of the Special Police.
The trial for "Storm" began on March 11, 2008, for war crimes from August 1995.
Josipović: You put Croatia in debt
Croatian President Ivo Josipović received Gotovina and Markač, whom he thanked for everything.
"You were fighters in war, victims in peace. You bore the burden of other people's crimes and mistakes," Josipovich told the two freed generals.
He said that today is a good day for Croatia, because the court verdict was obtained that "law and justice prevailed and that the generals are not guilty of the crimes they were accused of".
In addition, he added, it was proven that there was no joint criminal enterprise.
Josipović especially praised the speeches of Gotovina and Markač upon their arrival in Zagreb, at Ban Jelačić Square, in which they "looked into the future and said that we should move forward".
"This door is wide open for you, because you have put Croatia in debt," said the Croatian president.
Euphoria in the cities
On the square in Zagreb, they followed the verdict live, after which there was general euphoria.
About 7 thousand gathered chanted "Ante, Ante", "Croatia, Croatia", "Vukovar, Vukovar", waved flags and sang "Call, just call, all the falcons will give their lives for you".
One of the organizers of the meeting, the president of the Special Police Association, Josip Klem, said that special thanks should be given to the Church, which was the only one that believed in the general's innocence.
In other cities, "patriotic songs" are sung and public prayers are held.
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