Veritas calls for review of Gotovina verdict

Serbian non-government organization Veritas Documentation and Information Center on Wednesday petitioned the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for a review of the final verdict in the Gotovina case.

The ICTY acquitted Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac on appeal last November, after they were initially sentenced to 24 and 18 years imprisonment respectively for crimes against Serbs during and following Croatian military and police operation Storm in 1995.

Veritas says new information has surfaced in the case after the acquittal.

The new fact in the case, according to Veritas, is the number of remains exhumed from the St. Mare mass grave in Sibenik and the town cemetery in Zadar, Croatia, with the preliminary and conclusive identifications completed to date.

The facts were not known to the ICTY prosecutor’s office at the time of the proceedings before the Trial Chamber and Appeals Chamber, and could not have been uncovered even with the utmost effort, but had they been proven, these facts could have been the crucial factor in the decisions made by both chambers, says Veritas.

The organization points out that the Administration of Detained and Missing Persons of the Croatian Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs, with the Serbian Missing Persons Commission acting as observers, organized the exhumation of remains of Serbs killed in the aggression of Croatian armed forces in August 1995 (Operation Storm) on a UN protected area known as Sector South, at locations St. Mara in Sibenik and the town cemetery in Zadar.

The remains of 87 people were exhumed from these sites last November and this May, of whom at least 55 civilians and 15 women.

Before these group exhumations, 23 bodies were unearthed at the request of individual victims’ families, for a total of 110 bodies exhumed at these two sites, 60 of whom have been identified to date. The average age of the victims was 62, and at least 41 were civilians and 16 women.

By comparing the remains from these two sites for which preliminary or final identification has been completed with the verdicts of the ICTY Trial Chamber and Appeals Chamber, it can be concluded that evidence was based on only two persons, whose remains were buried at the Zadar town cemetery.

According to Veritas, 1,886 Serbs, among them 1,196 civilians and 540 women, were killed in Operation Storm, including Sector North and Sector South. Of these, 891 have been buried, while 943 are still officially missing.

A total of 1,011 victims have been exhumed in Sector North and Sector South since 2001, of whom 666 have been identified.

In Sector South during Operation Storm – which was the subject of the trial – according to Veritas, 1,041 Serbs were killed, of whom 671 civilians and 290 women. Of these, 606 have been buried, while 435 are still officially missing.

A total of 663 victims have been exhumed in Sector South since 2001, of whom 455 have been identified.

Veritas expects the ICTY prosecutor’s office will consider its petition, supported by the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office and the National Council for cooperation with the ICTY, and order the relevant chamber to review the verdict in the case Gotovina et al. (Operation Storm), says the statement signed by Veritas President Savo Strbac.

Thursday 13 June 2013

http://inserbia.info/news/2013/06/veritas-calls-for-review-of-gotovina-verdict/