THE HAGUE, Netherlands — U.N. war crimes prosecutors said Monday that Croatian forces shelled civilians and torched their homes in a deliberate effort to expel tens of thousands of Serbs during a lightning 1995 campaign to seize back land occupied early in the Balkan wars.
The ethnic cleansing allegations came as prosecution lawyers at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal summed up their case against Gen. Ante Gotovina, who commanded the blitz known as Operation Storm, and two other Croatian generals.
The case is unusual because prosecutors insist the generals are guilty despite having issued orders to troops not to commit crimes. They say the generals never intended the orders to be followed.
The 1995 offensive is still a source of friction between Croatia and Serbia. Zagreb celebrates it with a national holiday, while Belgrade regards it as one of the worst crimes against Serbs committed during the Balkan wars.
Marking the 15th anniversary of Operation Storm in early August, Serbian President Boris Tadic called it a "crime which shouldn't be forgotten." His Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic responded that it was "above all, the crown of the justified liberation war."
Prosecutors claim 324 Serbs were killed, including elderly and disabled villagers – many "executed" with gunshots to the head.
Monday's hearing was being broadcast on Croatian state television but it raised little interest in Serbia. Gotovina, Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak have pleaded innocent and are regarded as heroes in their homeland.
Prosecutors have demanded sentences of 27 years for Gotovina, 23 years for Markac and 17 years for Cermak. Their trial began in March 2008 and heard from 145 witnesses. Verdicts are expected later this year.
The tribunal has in other cases convicted several senior officers for issuing orders to their men to commit atrocities, or for failing to punish subordinates who violated international law.
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