Croat 'war hero' flown to Hague

Norac is expected to plea not guilty

A former Croatian general seen by many Croats as a war hero has been flown to the Netherlands to appear at the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

Mirko Norac left the town of Rijeka to face charges of crimes against humanity during the 1991-1995 war.

Norac, 36, is already serving a 12-year prison in Croatia for the execution of 50 ethnic Serbs in 1991.

He is expected to plead not guilty and, in a break with court procedures, could be sent back for trial in Croatia.

However, such a move would have to be agreed by the tribunal.

Burnt alive

The Hague court has accused the ex-general of unlawful killing of civilians and captured soldiers during an operation in the Medak pocket in central Croatia in 1993.

Many Croatians see Norac as a war hero

A brigade headed by General Norac allegedly committed a string of murders and other attacks, including burning a woman alive while soldiers mocked her, prosecutors say.

"Mirko Norac, acting individually and/or in concert with others... planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of persecutions of Serb civilians of the Medak Pocket on racial, political or religious grounds," the indictment says.

It says soldiers under his command were guilty of "shooting, stabbing... severe beatings with rifle butts, burning with cigarettes, jumping on bodies, tying bodies to a car and dragging them along the road, mutilation and other forms of mistreatment".

Norac's earlier arrest in Croatia on other charges sparked protests by Croatian war veterans and members of the public who see him as a hero for his war record.

Two other generals have already been charged over the same operation - Rahim Ademi, who is on bail pending his trial, and Janko Bobetko, who died in 2003.