A Croatian general who spent four years on the run goes on trial today, charged with jointly planning one of the largest episodes of “ethnic cleansing” of the Yugoslav wars and failing to prevent war crimes.

Ante Gotovina was commander of Operation Storm in August 1995, when between 150,000 and 200,000 Serbs fled or were forced to flee as the newly armed Croatian Army, trained by American advisers, smashed through Serb lines. Croat troops found towns and villages abandoned in panic, with meals still warm on the table.

General Gotovina fled Croatia after being indicted in 2001 and spent four years on the run, protected and funded by an international network of supporters. He was eventually arrested in a luxury hotel on Tenerife in December 2005, thus easing Croatia’s path to EU membership.

He is charged at the UN war crimes tribunal together with two other generals, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac. All three plead not guilty. Prosecutors also allege that while General Gotovina’s troops murdered at least 37 Serbs, looted, burnt villages and expelled civilians from their homes, he knew that war crimes were being committed but failed to stop the atrocities or punish the perpetrators.

The trial is vital for the Balkans to come to terms with its recent bloody history, UN officials say. For many in Croatia, General Gotovina and his comrades are national heroes. The three generals are accused of taking part in a joint criminal enterprise together with Franjo Tudjman, former President of Croatia, Gojko Susak, former Minister of Defence, and two former army chiefs of staff. All four are now dead, but would otherwise have probably joined the three generals in the dock.

“This trial is extremely important for the region from a judicial and historical point of view,” Nerma Jelacic, spokeswoman for the tribunal, said. “It will look into some of the worst crimes that happened in Croatia. The pro“ secution argues that there was a joint criminal enterprise to cleanse the Serb population, and also blames President Tudjman.”

Defence lawyers argue that General Gotovina fought against the former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and ended the wars in Bosnia and Croatia and so should be praised. In their pretrial brief the lawyers wrote: “To label him a war criminal would be an injustice not only to him but to the victims whose suffering he ended when no one else in the international community would.”

The trial could prove embarrassing for Western intelligence services and regional governments if General Gotovina reveals how much support the Croatian military and intelligence services received from the West, especially the United States and the CIA. According to Hrvoje Sarinic, former chief of staff to President Tudjman, who also acted as his secret envoy to Milosevic, the CIA cooperated with General Gotovina and supplied intelligence-gathering equipment before Operation Storm.

Tribunal officials say that Operation Storm is not on trial, only the crimes allegedly committed during it. The trial could also reveal details of the murky deals between Milosevic and Tudjman, and why Milosevic did not mobilise the Yugoslav Army as the Krajina Serbs fled the Croat forces.

The tribunal’s most wanted men, the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and the military commander General Ratko Mladic, both charged with genocide, remain on the run. Political turmoil in Serbia will only hamper efforts to bring them to justice. The new UN war crimes prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said last week that the tribunal should not close down until Mr Mladic and Dr Karadzic are captured. Many fear that if Dr Karadzic and Mr Mladic can stay in hiding until 2011, when the tribunal is due to close down, they will evade justice.

THE CHARGES

Edited extract from the indictment at the UN war crimes tribunal

— Ante Gotovina, acting individually or in concert with others, planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted:

— The unlawful killing of at least 150 Krajina Serbs and the disappearance of many hundreds of others by Croatian forces. Those who remained in, or returned to, their homes were ultimately forced to flee as a result of continued killing, arson, looting, harassment and terror

— Threats of physical harm to person and property by Croatian forces

— Large-scale deportation or displacement of an estimated 150,000-200,000 Krajina Serbs

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