Courts & Tribunals: Ante Gotovina Pleads Not Guilty Before International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
On 12 December 2023 former Croatian General Ante Gotovina plead not guilty to seven counts under an amended indictment before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.[1] Gotovina, arrested on 7 December in the Canary Islands by Spanish authorities and thereafter transferred to the ICTY's Detention Unit, faces charges of: persecutions, murder, plunder of property, wanton destruction of cities, town or villages, deportation and forced displacement, and other inhumane acts.
Originally indicted on 8 June 2001, the Prosecutor presented an amended indictment to the ICTY on 19 February 2004. The factual basis of the indictment concerns the August 1995 Croatian military offensive known as "Oluja" or "Storm" (Operation Storm), which aimed to retake the Krajina region of Croatia. According to the indictment, Gotovina "was the overall operational commander of the Croatian forces that were deployed as part of Operation Storm in the southern portion of the Krajina region, including the municipalities, in whole or in part, of Benkovac, Gracac, Knin, Obrovac, Sibenik, Sinj and Zadar."[2]
Gotovina is charged with both individual and superior criminal responsibility under the indictment. Specifically, the indictment charges Gotovina with individual criminal responsibility, under Article 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal, with persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, deportation and other inhumane acts and plunder of public or private property and wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages under Article 3 of the Statute. Additionally, Gotovina is charged with individual criminal responsibility of a superior under Article 7(3) of the Statute. These counts include inhumane acts and murder.[3]
Further Information:
- Original Indictment
- Amended Indictment
- Gotovina Case Information Sheet
- ICTY
- ICTY Statute
[1] ICTY, Prosecutor v. Gotovina, Case No. IT-01-45, Amended Indictment, Feb. 19, 2004, available at http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/got-ai040224e.htm.
[2] Id. at para. 4.
[3] Id. at para. 6-41.