Initial Appearance - Gotovina (Part 1/2) - 12 December 2005

For more information: http://www.icty.org/cases/party/691/4 Ante Gotovina was today transferred to the Tribunal's Detention Unit in The Hague. An indictment against him was made public in July 2001 and after more than four years of evading justice, he was arrested on 7 December 2005 in the Canary Islands by the Spanish authorities. Gotovina, a former Croatian General, is charged with persecutions, murder, plunder of property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, deportation and forced displacement, and other inhumane acts, which took place under his command and control, against the Serb population during and in the aftermath of the August 1995 Croatian military offensive known as Operation Storm. The operation was intended to establish Croatian authority over the Krajina region of Croatia. According to the indictment, another purpose of the operation was the forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population from that region. The indictment alleges that as commander of the Split Military District, Gotovina was the overall operations commander of Operation Storm in the southern portion of the Krajina region.