Croat general Ante Gotovina found guilty of war crimes
A UN court has convicted a key wartime Croatian commander, General Ante Gotovina, of committing atrocities in a campaign of shelling, murder and persecution.
Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years in prison for his part in the campaign aimed at driving Serbs out of Croatia’s Krajina border region in 1995.
The court also convicted a second general, Mladen Markac, and sentenced him to 18 years, but cleared a third, Ivan Cermak, of all charges and ordered him released.
The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal judgment in The Hague was also a damning verdict on Croatia’s then-president, Franjo Tudjman.
It said he led a “joint criminal enterprise” to repopulate the Krajina region with Croats after driving out Serbs. Tudjman died in 1999 while under investigation by the tribunal.
