Croat Army Accused of Crimes Against Serbs

An investigation by an international war crimes tribunal has recommended that three Croatian generals be indicted for leading the Croatian army to carry out summary executions, indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations and “ethnic cleansing” during a 1995 assault against Serbs, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Such indictments would be the first of Croatian army officers for the Balkan wars of 1991 to 1995, although the tribunal in The Hague has indicted 83 people, most of them Serbs. The tribunal was set up by the United Nations in 1993.

An unidentified U.S. official said last week that the indictments could come within a few weeks, the Times said.

The August 1995 Croatian offensive, which drove about 100,000 Serbs from a large area of Croatia over four days, was carried out by a Croatian army that had been schooled in part by a group of retired U.S. military officers, the Times reported.

The newspaper, which received a copy of the report, said officials would comment only anonymously.

“During, and in the 100 days following the military offensive, at least 150 Serb civilians were summarily executed, and many hundreds disappeared,” the report says. The crimes also included looting and burning, it says.

“In a widespread and systematic manner, Croatian troops committed murder and other inhumane acts upon and against Croatian Serbs,” the report says.

The report found three generals who commanded the military operation--Mirko Norac, Ante Gotovina and Ivan Cermak--accountable under international law.