Croatia to try two generals for war crimes in June

By Igor Ilic

ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia will open a major war crimes trial in June of two generals indicted for atrocities against rebel Serbs, in another test case of its readiness to deal with the recent past.

Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi, an ethnic Albanian, have been charged with commanding troops who killed some 30 Serb civilians and prisoners of war during a swift commando incursion into rebel territory in southern Croatia in September 1993.

The trial -- seen as a test case for the judiciary of this European Union candidate country -- will start in Zagreb on June 18, the state news agency Hina reported on Thursday.

"The trial will have nine hearings before the summer break. Only the prosecution and the generals' defense teams are summoned to the first hearings, while witness testimonies will follow after summer," Zagreb county court spokesman Kresimir Devcic told the agency.

The case was initially investigated by the Hague war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia but was later transferred to the Croatian judiciary.

"This is the first case the Hague tribunal has handed to the Croatian judiciary and we will be following with interest. It's another test case of whether the local judiciary is mature enough," said a European Commission official in Zagreb.

"Unlike in the past, this time we do not expect any protests or rallies by right-wing groups or war veterans, and that's a good sign," the official said. Croatia hopes to join the European Union around 2010.

Norac is already serving a 12-year sentence for a separate war crime against Serb civilians. His arrest in 2001 and trial -- the first of a high-ranking army officer since Croatia's 1991 independence -- were marked by widespread anti-government protests.

Ademi, who surrendered voluntarily to the Hague tribunal, was not jailed while awaiting trial, but must not leave his place of residence, talk to the press or influence witnesses.

Earlier this month, another local court indicted a powerful parliamentarian, Branimir Glavas, and six other people for killings of Serb civilians in the eastern town of Osijek in late 1991. Glavas is the first senior state official to be charged with such offences.