Everything about Ante Gotovina totally explained
Ante Gotovina (born
October 12,
1955,
Island of Pašman,
Croatia) is a former lieutenant general (
general pukovnik) of the
Croatian Army who served in the 1991-1995 war in
Croatia. He was
indicted in 2001 by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The indictment accuses him of a "joint criminal enterprise" in an effort to expel Krajina Serbs from Croatia in 1995 during
Operation Storm at the end of the
Croatian War. After spending four years in hiding, he was captured in
Tenerife on
December 7,
2005.
French Foreign Legion and after
Gotovina was born on
Island of Pašman, the son of a
fisherman. He moved to
Pakoštane near
Zadar, on the
Dalmatian coast of southern Croatia, later in his life. At the age of sixteen he left home to become a sailor. In 1973, before turning eighteen, he joined the
French Foreign Legion under the
pseudonym of
Andrija Grabovac and became a member of the
2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) after qualifying at the Training School in
Pau before joining the elite
Commandos de Recherche et d'Action en Profondeur (CRAP). It was there he met Dominique Erulin, brother of Colonel Philippe Erulin, known for his "interrogation activities" during the
Algerian War (1954-62). He participated in Foreign Legion operations in
Djibouti,
Kolwezi in
Zaire and the
Ivory Coast, becoming Colonel Erulin's driver. After five years of service, he left the Legion with the rank of
caporal-chef; he obtained French citizenship in 1979.
He subsequently worked for a variety of French private security companies during the 1980s, among them KO International Company, a filial of VHP Security, known as a cover for the
Service d'Action Civique (SAC), specialists of shady actions for the gaullist movement. KO International Company was also charged at this time of far-right Front National's leader
Jean-Marie Le Pen's security . In 1981, with his comrade Dominique Erulin, he helped editor Jean-Pierre Mouchard, a close friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen, organizing a commando to free his press in La Seyne sur Mer, occupied by
CGT trade-union strikers Towards the end of the decade he moved to
South America, where he provided training to a number of right-wing
paramilitary organizations, notably in
Argentina and
Guatemala. He met his future wife, Ximena, in
Colombia.
Arrested during a travel to France, he was sentenced in
1986 to five years of prison by Paris'
Cour d'assise. He was freed the next year, "in circumstances showing that he was beneficing from very particular protections" were expelled from the Krajina region, and at least 150 were said to have been murdered. The indictment charges Gotovina's troops with shooting, arson and stabbing Serb civilians to death and with destroying countless buildings in an effort to make it impossible for the Krajina's Serb inhabitants to return home.
The indictments were immediately controversial – four government ministers resigned in protest against the government's decision to cooperate with the ICTY
(External Link
) –, and they attracted strong support from the Croatian public. Prominent figures, such as the tennis star
Goran Ivanišević, joined the campaign to prevent the two men from being extradited. Although Ademi decided to surrender voluntarily to the tribunal, Gotovina rejected its legitimacy and went into hiding.
For the next four years, Gotovina remained at large despite intense pressure from the
United States and the
European Union for his surrender. Rumors abounded as to his whereabouts. In September 2005, the BBC reported he was hiding out in a
Franciscan monastery in Croatia or Bosnian Croat territory. It was widely speculated that he was being assisted by elements in the Croatian government and military, and even by the
Roman Catholic Church. In the same month ICTY's chief prosecutor
Carla Del Ponte publicly accused the Vatican of protecting Gotovina, though the Church denied this.
Foreign countries sought to track down Gotovina, and an
Interpol warrant was issued for his arrest. The United States announced a $5 million (€4.2 million) reward for his capture. It was reported that the British
Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) had sought to find Gotovina but that it had been thwarted after its intelligence officers were exposed in the Croatian media, allegedly at the behest of Gotovina's allies in one of Croatia' many intelligence services, the POA (
Protivobaveštajna agencija or "Counter-Intelligence Agency") The resulting scandal led to the sacking and replacement of POA head
Franjo Turek.
The
United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and some Scandinavian states made the surrender of Gotovina a precondition for Croatia's accession to the European Union. This stance was criticised by the Croatian government, which claimed that it didn't know where Gotovina was, that he was probably outside the country and that it was doing all it could to bring him to justice. Accession negotiations with the EU, scheduled to start on
March 17,
2005, were postponed pending a resolution of the issue. Croatia's bid for accession was finally accepted in October 2005 as part of a deal with
Austria, which gained Croatia's admission in exchange for dropping its opposition to
Turkey's candidacy. . The ICTY announced at the same time that Croatia was then "cooperating fully" with the tribunal, but didn't provide further details.
Public attitudes towards Gotovina
Within Croatia, attitudes towards Gotovina remain divided. Many Croatians continue to regard Gotovina as a war hero and reject the assertion that crimes were committed during the country's war of independence. But others say that Croatia's prospects depend far more on the country's accession to the EU than on the fate of one man, and General Ademi's voluntary surrender to the ICTY raised the question of why Gotovina didn't follow suit. Hardline nationalist elements in Croatia have used opposition to the ICTY as a means of drumming up political support.
During his flight, Gotovina became a prominent icon of Croatian popular culture.
Marko Perković (performing under his stage name
"Thompson") and
Miroslav Škoro, two popular Croatian musicians known for their right-wing views, recorded songs with lyrics implicitly praising the general and his flight. Both songs became huge hits, especially among younger fans.
In 2001 the Croatian writer
Nenad Ivanković wrote a book
Ratnik - pustolov i general (jedna biografija) (
Warrior - adventurer and general (a biography)), a biography of Ante Gotovina. The Croatian filmmaker
Dejan Šorak wrote and directed
Dva igrača s klupe, a
black comedy released in 2005 whose plot is inspired by the events surrounding the ICTY indictment against Ante Gotovina.
Gotovina owes his popularity in his homeland to a number of factors. Most obvious, the former general is regarded by many as a war hero. His flight fits the ancient stereotype of an outlaw - a person who defies distant and tyrannical authorities, this time embodied in The Hague, Brussels and other Western capitals whose governments demanded his arrest. This kind of outlaw-celebrating culture is especially strong in Dinaric regions like Dalmatian hinterland and neighbouring Croat-inhabited Western
Herzegovina and, in general, in all of the
Balkans . Other Croats, regardless of their regional background, political persuasion or even attitude to wartime atrocities, praised Gotovina's flight as an act of defiance towards the Croatian political establishment.
After Gotovina's arrest in Spain, several rallies and protests took place in Croatian cities. On
December 11 2005 (first Sunday after arrest) a rally organised by war veterans attracted between 40,000 (
Reuters estimate) and 70,000 (Croatian media estimate) Croatians in the city of
Split to protest against the arrest, which is significantly smaller number than
2001 Split protest, when 100,000 people gathered in Split in support of General
Mirko Norac. Several retired generals attended the rally and expressed their support for Gotovina. On the same day, rallies were held in several other cities in Croatia, but with smaller attendance (in
Zagreb some 500 people gathered).
According to an opinion poll published by the newspaper
Jutarnji list on December 11, 60% of those surveyed believed that Gotovina wasn't guilty of the criminal acts with which he'd been charged, 17% believed that he was mostly not responsible, and only one respondent believed that he was completely responsible. 53.4% said that the arrest was bad for Croatia, while only 23.3% said that it was good for the country. 44.6% believed that Gotovina's capture would make it easier for Croatia to join the European Union, though 36.2% believed it would not.
Capture and extradition
On
December 7,
2005, Gotovina was captured by
Spanish police and special forces in the resort of
Playa de las Americas on
Tenerife in the
Canary Islands. He was said to have been traveling on a fake Croatian passport in an assumed name,
Kristijan Horvat. His passport contained border stamps of several countries, including
Argentina,
Chile,
Russia,
China,
Czech Republic and
Tahiti. A sum of money amounting to
€12,000 was discovered in his room. He was immediately flown to
Madrid, where he was imprisoned in advance of a court hearing to extradite him to the ICTY prison at
The Hague. Spanish police were later reported to have been tracking him for several days, apparently following a lead supplied by the Croatian intelligence service. The involvement of Croatian authorities has been backed up by the Carla's List documentary, a part of which is available on Youtube
(External Link)
On
December 10,
2005, Gotovina was flown to The Hague, where he appeared before the ICTY on
December 12. He pleaded not guilty to the seven charges brought against him, which were all preceded with "acting individually and/or through [his] participation in the joint criminal enterprise, planned, instigated, ordered, committed, and/or aided and abetted the planning, preparation, and/or execution of":
- Persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, deportation and other inhumane acts (forced displacement) - three counts of crimes against humanity
- Other inhumane acts - one count of a crime against humanity
- Murder - one count of a violation of the laws or customs of war
- Plunder of public or private property and wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages - two counts of violations of the laws or customs of war.
According to his lawyer, Gotovina has declared that he's "not the man described in each and every count."
(External Link) The Croatian media have reported that the Croatian government is to contribute to Gotovina's defence fund and that it has also unfrozen the former general's financial assets.
Following the death of
Slobodan Milošević (who was imprisoned in ICTY prison cell just next to that of Gotovina), Ante Gotovina signed a condolence note to his family (together with
Mladen Naletilić Tuta,
Paško Ljubičić,
Ivica Rajić and other Croat and Serb detainees, making the list 34 signatures long). This condolence note was published in
Belgrade's
Politika and
Večernje novosti newspapers. The condolence note sparked great controversy in
Croatia as Croatian president
Stjepan Mesić heavily criticised
Serbian president
Boris Tadić for sending condolences to the Milošević family.
(External Link)(External Link)
Trial
At the end of 2006 Gotovina's case was joined with cases against Ivan Čermak and Mladen Markač as it relates to the same events (Operation Storm).
(External Link) The trial was expected to begin in May 2007 but was postponed indefinitely due to conflicts between lawyers on the defence bench.
(External Link)Gotovina's lawyers are Greg Kehoe and Luka Misetic, both American, with the latter of Croatian background..
The trial began on
March 11,
2008.
Personal life
Gotovina is married to Croatian Army colonel
Dunja Zloić with whom he's a son Ante, born in
1997. Before his second marriage, he also had a romantic relationship with
Croatian Radiotelevision reporter
Vesna Karuza, with whom he'd a daughter Ana, born in
1994. Gotovina also has another daughter from his first marriage with Colombian journalist Ximena before the war.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ante Gotovina'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://ante_gotovina.totallyexplained.com">Ante Gotovina Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
