A Croatian district court today opened the trial of two suspected war criminals in the first case transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to a domestic court system. Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi, two Croation army generals, face war crimes charges for atrocities allegedly committed during a land seizure campaign in 1991. Norac is already serving a 12-year sentence for war crimes and Ademi voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal in 2001. Both men are pleading not guilty in the case.
The charges for the men include the killing of 28 civilians and 5 civilians. Allegations detail the murder of an 84-year-old blind villager and the death of a 31-year-old retarded man who was dragged behind an automobile before Croatian troops burned him alive. The two former generals are charged with failing to prevent atrocities and for ordering the "indiscriminate shelling" of Serbian villages in the area known as the Medak Pocket.
The two are the highest ranking Croatian officers being tried for war crimes against the Serbian population. The former generals face 20-year sentences if convicted. The trial is expected to last about a year.
