For the prosecution, "Storm" is not a military attack that led to unwanted consequences, but an attack with the intention of deporting the civilian population.
General Ante Gotovina, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison last year by the Hague Court for war crimes during and after Operation Storm, carried out in August 1995, is not a "sacrificial lamb" but a participant in a criminal enterprise, the Hague Prosecutor's Office points out in its testimony before the panel was presided over by Teodor Merona, Croatian media reported.
Gotovina and the other members of the joint criminal enterprise had a common purpose, which was the expulsion of the civilian population, which was carried out by excessive artillery fire, said prosecutor Helen Brady, emphasizing that Gotovina gave the order to indiscriminately target the entire city of Knin, which, as well as other targeted cities, a civilian target in itself, although there were also military facilities there.
Therefore, according to the prosecutors, it is not crucial what the margin of error will be when determining the legality of artillery attacks.
Gotovina is not a "sacrificial lamb" as many in the Croatian public represent him, but he directly participated in the intention to expel Serbian civilians from Krajina, said prosecutor Douglas Strejger, emphasizing that the existence of a joint criminal enterprise is evidenced by the laws that were passed after the Storm, and which prevented the expelled civilians from returning to Croatia.
The Prosecution believes that the Croatian army's attacks on Knin, Gračac, Obrovac and Benkovac were illegal, pointing out that Franjo Tuđman, the Croatian president at the time, called for ethnic cleansing and that after the operation he boasted of his efficiency in meeting the goal of deporting the Serbian population. For the prosecution, "Storm" is not a military attack that led to unwanted consequences, but an attack with the intention of deporting the civilian population.
When asked by Meron about the defense's argument that there were no civilian victims in the shooting, the prosecutors said that there was no need to prove that there were civilian victims, adding that witnesses during the first instance trial said that they saw dead and wounded people on the streets of Knin. The population of Knin left their town solely because of the indiscriminate shooting, as there were 4 people in the town on August 1995, 15.000, and only 1.000 remained a day later.
Ante Gotovina's lawyer, Luka Mišetić, used his right to respond to such theses of the prosecution, saying that it is not true that the civilians from Krajina fled because of the shooting, but because of the evacuation order issued by Milan Martić. Mišetić said that there is no evidence that the investigation into war crimes was prevented after the Storm.
In the afternoon, the defense of General Mladen Markač, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the same criminal acts, will also present their views, and at the end of today's conference, two generals will speak, who each have 10 minutes.
No one was convicted of war crimes against the Serbs in Ulja
In the former Republika Srpska Krajina, almost 700 civilians were killed (410 in Dalmatia and Lika and 270 in Bania and Kordun), and more than 22.000 houses were burned.
"On the occasion of today's appeal hearing before the International Criminal Court for War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the case of Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač, we would like to once again warn the Croatian public about the heavy legacy of unprocessed crimes committed during and immediately after the Storm", it is emphasized in announcement.
It recalls the research conducted by the Croatian Helsinki Committee, according to which in August and September 1995, during and after the end of military operations in the former Republika Srpska Krajina, almost 700 civilians were killed (410 in Dalmatia and Lika and 270 in Bania and Kordun ), and more than 22.000 houses were burned.
More than 150.000 of its former inhabitants, mostly Serbs, left Croatia then. Their return was hampered by the failure to establish security measures and the rule of law in that territory, delayed processing of war crimes, ineffective return programs and too slow state economic measures to encourage reconstruction.
All this resulted in the permanent emigration of the Serbian population from a fifth of the Croatian territory to the extent that it has the effects of ethnic cleansing, the NGO points out.
The signatories of the statement, including leading Croatian organizations for the protection of human rights, remind of some well-known and unprocessed crimes and once again appeal to the intolerable situation in which the families of those killed who sued Croatia, seeking compensation, continue to live under the threat of forced collection of court fees. expenses.
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