War crimes fugitive: Ante Gotovina

25/07/2008

Retired Croatian General Ante Gotovina was arrested in December 2005 after four years of evading authorities.

(Various sources)

Retired General Ante Gotovina was arrested in the Canary Islands on December 7th 2005. [File]

Retired Croatian General Ante Gotovina was arrested in the Spanish Canary Islands on December 7th 2005 and extradited to The Hague the next day. He had been on the run since June 2001, disappearing shortly after the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicted him for his alleged involvement in atrocities committed against Krajina Serbs towards the end of the 1991-1995 conflict in Croatia.

Gotovina was one of the three most wanted war crimes fugitives from the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s, along with former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic.

Gotovina was indicted by the ICTY for his role in Operation Storm. Croatia launched the military offensive, code named Operation Storm, on August 4th 1995, to regain control over the Krajina region, which Serb separatists seized in 1991.. Throughout the multi-day operation and follow-on actions that lasted through November 15th 1995, Gotovina commanded the Split Operative Zone of the Croatian Army. In this role, he exercised de facto and de jure command and control over all Croatian forces deployed as part of Operation Storm in the southern portion of the Krajina region, UN prosecutors alleged in an amended indictment against Gotovina made public in March 2004.

The indictment charges him with four counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of violations of the laws or customs of war for persecution; murders; plunder of property; wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages; deportation and other inhumane acts allegedly committed during the operation. The ICTY holds Gotovina individually responsible for those crimes, including the unlawful killings of at least 150 Krajina Serbs. Up to 200,000 Krajina Serbs reportedly suffered displacement as a result of the Croatian Army offensive and follow-on actions.

According to UN prosecutors, Gotovina -- acting individually or in concert with others, including Ivan Cermak, Mladen Markac and former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman -- participated in a joint criminal enterprise whose common purpose was the forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population from the Krajina region. As part of that enterprise, he "planned, instigated, ordered, committed, or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation, or execution" of the alleged crimes.

The prosecutors also allege that while he knew, or had reason to know, that his subordinates were about to commit the atrocities listed in the indictment or had done so, Gotovina failed to prevent those acts from taking place or to punish their perpetrators. Furthermore, he failed to fulfil his duty to restore and ensure public order and safety in the region, including its capital, Knin, and surrounding municipalities.

Gotovina was born on October 12th 1955 on the Croatian island of Pasman within the Zadar municipality. A professional soldier, he joined the French Foreign Legion in 1973 and rose to the rank of chief corporal. Afterwards, he worked for private security companies in France, some with links to far-right political movements. He also ran into trouble with the law. Police records show warrants were issued for him in connection with robbery and extortion, and in 1986 he received a five-year jail term -- although he was freed after one year, under ambiguous circumstances.

In 1991, Gotovina returned to Croatia. He joined the National Guard Corps as chief of operations and training of its 1st Brigade. From February to April 1992, Gotovina was deputy commander of the Special Unit of the Croatian Army Main Staff, afterwards taking on a six-month assignment with the Croatian Defence Council.

In October 1992, he became commander of the Split Operative Zone of the Croatian Army, later renamed the Split Military District, and held that post until March 1996. Meanwhile, he earned promotion from brigadier to major general and then to colonel general.

In March 1996, Tudjman, who was Croatia's president at the time, appointed Gotovina chief of the Croatian Army Inspectorate. Gotovina was dismissed by Stipe Mesic on September 29, 2000, who won the Croatian presidential election in February of that year

In a report to the UN Security Council on November 23rd 2004, then ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said the ex-general had disappeared in June 2001 after Croatian authorities informed him that there was a sealed indictment against him.

Following his disappearance, Gotovina's whereabouts became a subject of speculation and controversy. Pressing Zagreb to arrest and hand over the fugitive to the ICTY, del Ponte insisted witnesses had spotted him in Croatia on numerous occasions. She also alleged that "a well-organised support network, including within state structures", was helping him evade justice.

Croatian officials, who on different occasions publicly called on Gotovina to surrender to the tribunal, maintained that he had fled the country but pledged that he would be arrested if found.

Media reports in February 2004 suggested that Gotovina – who received French citizenship after his service in the Legion -- had been living openly in southeastern France. After that, he reportedly lived for some time in the towns of Nice and Aix-en-Provence in southern France and travelled extensively to places in South America and elsewhere.

"He enjoys the protection of the mafia, even of local powerful people. He can live without having to hide; he can even travel out of the country without any major problems," the French daily Le Monde wrote, citing an October 2003 report by DST, the French intelligence agency. After his capture, examination of his passport showed stamps from locations as far afield as China and Tahiti.