Former Croatian General Mirko Norac pleaded not guilty to war crimes at The Hague today after voluntarily surrendering to a United Nations tribunal.
Norac (36), widely hailed at home as a hero of Croatia's war of independence from the Yugoslav federation, was charged by the tribunal with responsibility for atrocities by troops under his command in a 1993 operation against rebel Serbs.
"I plead not guilty your honour," Norac told the court, having flown to the Netherlands earlier in the day on a special flight from Croatia where he is serving a 12-year prison sentence for a separate attack on Serb civilians in 1991.
Croatia has improved cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia this year, vital if its bid to become a European Union member is to succeed.
Two other Croatian generals and six Bosnian Croats have surrendered voluntarily this year.
Norac, a commander of the Ninth Guards Motorised Brigade at the time of the 1993 attack, rose to become Major General in the Croatian army in 1995. He was discharged in 2000.
The tribunal charged him with five counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war in the Krajina region of Croatia.The charges included burning one Serbian woman alive and mutilating another.
Norac will return to Croatia to carry on serving his jail sentence.No date for the start of The Hague trial has been set.The trial is one of several UN prosecutors would like to take place in Croatia as part of a strategy under which the tribunal would focus on high-profile cases and transfer lower-ranking suspects to Croatian courts.