Two Croatian generals to face war crimes trial in Hague

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 12, 2004

Two Croatian generals to face war crimes trial in Hague

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Two retired Croatian generals, indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), left Zagreb on Thursday morning for Netherlands to give themselves up to the UN tribunal, the Beta news agency said Thursday.

Beta said Ivan Cermak, 54, and Mladen Markac, 48, left Zagreb at about 8:30 local time to face trial at the ICTY on charges of war crimes committed against Serbs in 1995 during the Croatia's military operation "Storm".

Up to 200,000 ethnic Serbs were forced to flee their homes during the Storm offensive, which rapidly overwhelmed the Serb stronghold around the southern town of Knin and effectively ended the Serbo-Croat war.

Before their departure, Cermak and Markac said they left for Hague with high hopes of being aquitted.

"I hope we will win in the Hague and could return soon to Croatia," Beta quoted Markac as saying.

The two traveled with their attornies and an official from Croatia's Justice Ministry.

The Croatian government has vowed to help the generals -- who enjoy widespread public support -- fight the charges and has described their joint indictment as "political".

Cermak and Markac were indicted last week by the ICTY and are to be arraigned before the UN tribunal on Friday.

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