CROATIA: Retired Croatian general Mirko Norac was sentenced yesterday by a local court to 12 years in jail for war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs at the outbreak of the 1990s Serbo-Croatian war.
Norac (34) was found guilty of organising the executions of at least 50 ethnic Serb civilians in October 1991 in the region of the central town of Gospic.
Testimony during the trial held him responsible for personally shooting dead one woman, Judge Ika Saric said.
The case was held in the northern Adriatic town of Rijeka.
Norac, considered a national hero by many, is the highest- ranking Croatian officer to be sentenced by a local court for war crimes committed during the 1991-95 war between Zagreb and Serb rebels.
The verdict sparked off protests by some 500 supporters outside the courthouse, and roadblocks by another 100 people in his home town of Sinj in the south.
He and four other defendants - dubbed the Gospic group - went on trial in January 2002 in what was seen as a test of whether Croatia's judiciary was capable of handling cases in which Croatians were tried for war crimes against ethnic Serbs.
Of the other defendants, Tihomir Oreskovic, the prime suspect, and Stjepan Grandic, were condemned to 15 and 10 years in jail, respectively, while Ivica Rozic was acquitted.
A fifth defendant Milan Canic was acquitted earlier this month.
The sentences can be appealed to the supreme court.