Not.
National hero, international villain
By Adam LeBor
CELEBRATED as a national hero by his fellow Croats, General Ante Gotovina was indicted in May 2001 for his role in the bloody suppression of Serb rebels.
As his troops rampaged through newly captured villages in the Krajina region of Croatia in August 1995, at least 150 Serbs were killed and several hundred disappeared. The victims were beaten, tortured, shot and burnt to death as villages were razed and livestock slaughtered, according to General Gotovina’s indictment by the UN war crimes tribunal.
Although the atrocities carried out under his command during Operation Storm ultimately led to his arrest, his admirers note that the eviction of Serb rebels from a quarter of Croatian territory marked a turning point in the wars of the former Yugoslavia.
General Gotovina’s rise through the ranks of the Croatian Army was as rapid as the advance of his troops through the self-declared Republic of Serb Krajina. He returned to Croatia only at the outbreak of war in 1991 after 20 years abroad, much of it spent in the French Foreign Legion.
He had left communist Yugoslavia at the age of 16 and worked on a merchant ship before signing up with the legion. He served until 1979, when he was granted French citizenship and went on to train paramilitaries in Argentina and Guatemala.
He then turned to crime. In 1991 he had just been released from prison after serving five years for stealing two million francs (£205,500) from a French businessman.
Operation Storm began at dawn on August, 4, 1995, as 200,000 Croatian troops advanced towards Knin, the capital of the self-declared republic of Serb Krajina. By the following morning, the Croatian flag was flying over Knin castle and up to 200,000 Serbs were fleeing.
Croats argue that Operation Storm was a liberation of their occupied homeland. Tribunal officials say that the campaign is not on trial, only the war crimes committed under its cover. General Gotovina went into hiding immediately after his indictment.
This year Western officials accused Croatian authorities of sabotaging their efforts to track him down. Diplomats believed that powerful networks within the Croatian army and intelligence services were aiding the fugitive commander.