THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Three generals regarded as national heroes in Croatia went on trial Tuesday, accused of orchestrating the killing of at least 150 Serbs in a 1995 military campaign that unleashed widespread murder and pillage.
Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac are also accused of responsibility for the expulsion of up to 200,000 people in the offensive, known as ‘‘Operation Storm,’’ to reclaim the Krajina region of southern Croatia from rebel Serbs.
The trial in the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is forcing Croatia to confront the brutal reality of the campaign — seen by many Croats as a military triumph — and the key role played by the late President Franjo Tudjman.
Prosecutors say troops commanded by the generals rampaged through village after village during the three-month campaign, pillaging and torching homes and killing residents.
‘‘The Serb community was a scarred wasteland of destroyed villages and homes,’’ prosecutor Alan Tieger told a three-judge panel in his opening statement. ‘‘This case is about three men who were instrumental in those crimes.’’
They have pleaded not guilty to war crimes and crimes against humanity charges including murder, persecution, plunder and inhumane treatment of civilians. If convicted, they face maximum life sentences.
Tieger said the former Croat president — who was never indicted by tribunal prosecutors but was under investigation when he died in 1999 — plotted along with Gotovina and Markac to retake the land captured by Croatian Serb rebels four years earlier with a campaign of shelling and military strikes.
Tieger quoted Tudjman as saying: ‘‘We have to inflict such blows that the Serbs will to all practical purposes disappear.’’ Tudjman, the prosecutor said, also called Serbs ‘‘a cancer on the underbelly of Croatia.’’
While interest in the case in Croatia has been muted in recent days, Croatian television aired the courtroom action live Tuesday morning and a presenter called it the ‘‘trial of the century.’’
The generals, wearing suits and flanked by U.N. guards, sat impassively behind three benches of defense lawyers as Tieger began outlining his case.
In their indictment, prosecutors say Gotovina, a former French Foreign Legionnaire, knew what was likely to happen, failed to take steps to prevent atrocities or stop them once they began, and took no action against those who committed the crimes.
Unlike neighboring Serbia, whose path to EU membership is blocked by its failure to hand over key war crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic, Croatia took a major step toward joining the bloc when it cooperated with Hague investigators hunting Gotovina, who went on the run in 2001 after being indicted. Croatia now hopes to join the EU by the end of the decade.
The indictment alleges that Croat forces led by the generals murdered civilians, including the elderly, women and invalids.
‘‘Persons were observed being shot at point-blank range and killed execution style, and many persons had to look on while family members were killed,’’ the indictment charges.
Many Croatians still argue that Operation Storm was a necessity to win back the self-declared republic, though nationalist sentiment has faded as the country seeks a place in the European Union.
Davor Ivankovic, a columnist for the Croatian daily Vecernji list, wrote last Thursday that the general’s lawyers are not only defending their clients but ‘‘also have to defend the dignity and justification of the actions’’ in 1995.
Tieger said prosecutors would not dispute Croatia’s right to retake the land, but he said the operation had a more sinister aim.
‘‘Operation Storm encompassed another objective — to drive out the Serb civilian population and ensure their permanent removal,’’ he said.
Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac are also accused of responsibility for the expulsion of up to 200,000 people in the offensive, known as ‘‘Operation Storm,’’ to reclaim the Krajina region of southern Croatia from rebel Serbs.
The trial in the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is forcing Croatia to confront the brutal reality of the campaign — seen by many Croats as a military triumph — and the key role played by the late President Franjo Tudjman.
Prosecutors say troops commanded by the generals rampaged through village after village during the three-month campaign, pillaging and torching homes and killing residents.
‘‘The Serb community was a scarred wasteland of destroyed villages and homes,’’ prosecutor Alan Tieger told a three-judge panel in his opening statement. ‘‘This case is about three men who were instrumental in those crimes.’’
They have pleaded not guilty to war crimes and crimes against humanity charges including murder, persecution, plunder and inhumane treatment of civilians. If convicted, they face maximum life sentences.
Tieger said the former Croat president — who was never indicted by tribunal prosecutors but was under investigation when he died in 1999 — plotted along with Gotovina and Markac to retake the land captured by Croatian Serb rebels four years earlier with a campaign of shelling and military strikes.
Tieger quoted Tudjman as saying: ‘‘We have to inflict such blows that the Serbs will to all practical purposes disappear.’’ Tudjman, the prosecutor said, also called Serbs ‘‘a cancer on the underbelly of Croatia.’’
While interest in the case in Croatia has been muted in recent days, Croatian television aired the courtroom action live Tuesday morning and a presenter called it the ‘‘trial of the century.’’
The generals, wearing suits and flanked by U.N. guards, sat impassively behind three benches of defense lawyers as Tieger began outlining his case.
In their indictment, prosecutors say Gotovina, a former French Foreign Legionnaire, knew what was likely to happen, failed to take steps to prevent atrocities or stop them once they began, and took no action against those who committed the crimes.
Unlike neighboring Serbia, whose path to EU membership is blocked by its failure to hand over key war crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic, Croatia took a major step toward joining the bloc when it cooperated with Hague investigators hunting Gotovina, who went on the run in 2001 after being indicted. Croatia now hopes to join the EU by the end of the decade.
The indictment alleges that Croat forces led by the generals murdered civilians, including the elderly, women and invalids.
‘‘Persons were observed being shot at point-blank range and killed execution style, and many persons had to look on while family members were killed,’’ the indictment charges.
Many Croatians still argue that Operation Storm was a necessity to win back the self-declared republic, though nationalist sentiment has faded as the country seeks a place in the European Union.
Davor Ivankovic, a columnist for the Croatian daily Vecernji list, wrote last Thursday that the general’s lawyers are not only defending their clients but ‘‘also have to defend the dignity and justification of the actions’’ in 1995.
Tieger said prosecutors would not dispute Croatia’s right to retake the land, but he said the operation had a more sinister aim.
‘‘Operation Storm encompassed another objective — to drive out the Serb civilian population and ensure their permanent removal,’’ he said.