16 November 2012

CROATIA / SERBIA : 17 NOV. UPDATE: Hague Frees 2 Croat Generals; Zagreb Rejoices...As Beograd Seethes.

                         IST LINK CHANGE: More reaction details
http://www.france24.com/en/20121117-croatia-jubilant-serbia-appalled-generals-freed

     Hague's justices have freed 2 Croat generals...convicted of war crimes against Serbs in the 1990's.
     The appeals judges released Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac.
     The men...both 57...were sentenced to decades in prison in 2011 for killing ethnic Serbs in Croatia's Krajina region.
    They arrived to a joyful demonstration of an estimated 50,000 in Zagreb...but their release was condemned in Beograd/Belgrade. 
    Officials there claim the Hague court has lost its neutrality...and credibility.
    It is the war crimes court's biggest reversal in nearly 2 decades...and will strain relations between the 2 neighbors.