Former Croatian General Ante Gotovina pleads not guilty at UN war crimes court

Former Croatian General Ante Gotovina today pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and inhumane acts brought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague.

The suspect is accused in connection with the August 1995 Croatian military offensive known as Operation Storm, which aimed, in part to forcibly and permanently remove the Serb population from the Krajina region.

The indictment alleges that as commander of the Split Military District, Mr. Gotovina was the overall operations commander of Operation Storm in the southern portion of the Krajina region.

During and after the offensive, Croatian forces attacked and took control of towns, villages and hamlets in the southern portion of the Krajina region and subjected the local Serb population to persecutions while plundering and destroying their property. The indictment alleges that Mr. Gotovina encouraged others to perpetrate these crimes.

He is accused of persecutions, murder, plunder of property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, deportation and forced displacement, and other inhumane acts, which took place under his command and control against the Serb population.