Croatian general pleads not guilty

The general arrived with a police escort

Croatian General Rahim Ademi has made his first appearance before the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

General Ademi, the highest-ranking ethnic Albanian in the Croatian army, pleaded not guilty to charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws of war during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and tie, he looked tense but composed as he faced the judges and denied the five counts against him, which include murder, persecution, plunder and the destruction of towns and villages.

General Gotovina is still at large

General Ademi said his health was good and that he had no complaints about conditions in the United Nations detention unit in The Hague, where he is being held alongside fellow war crimes suspect Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president.

The charges against General Ademi relate to the military offensive he led to regain Serb-held areas in central Croatia in 1993. The indictment against him alleges that at least two captured Serb soldiers and 38 civilians, including women and the elderly, were killed by Croat forces - and that he did nothing to stop them.

The general voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal on Wednesday after flying to the Netherlands from Zagreb.

He is one of two officers whose extradition the court has requested from Croatia in connection with the break-up of the former Yugoslavia - and the first Croatian citizen to appear before the tribunal.

Sealed indictment opened

Thursday also saw the other officer, General Ante Gotovina, charged with crimes against humanity.

The international tribunal's chief prosecutor decided to open a sealed indictment against General Gotovina, who disappeared more than two weeks ago after General Ademi agreed to surrender to the court.

General Ademi boarded a scheduled flight from Zagreb to Amsterdam on Wednesday morning dressed in full military regalia and accompanied by his wife and lawyer.

"I am going to The Hague voluntarily and with a clear conscience, because I did not order any atrocities during the war," he told reporters as he left.

"I am proud of my role in the war," he said, adding, "I took care of civilians and prisoners of war".

Croatia divided

This is the first time Croatian officers have been indicted for this war, though Bosnian Croats have been charged over war crimes during the 1992-1995 war over Bosnia.

The war crimes issue has split Croatian opinion and sparked a revolt by nationalists in parliament against Prime Minister Ivica Racan's pro-Western government.

Observers say General Ademi's voluntary surrender may help ease pressure on the government which faced, and survived, a no-confidence vote earlier this month.

But many Croats still find it hard to believe any ill of the men who led the four-year war against Yugoslav-backed Serb rebels following Croatia's 1991 declaration of independence.