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Friday, Nov 16, 2012 7:45 AM UTC

Tribunal delivering appeal judgment for Croats

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Tribunal delivering appeal judgment for CroatsFILE This Friday, April 15, 2011 shows former Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina, center, talks to his defense team, prior to his verdict in the courtroom of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Thousands of Croatians are attending Masses and candlelight vigils for their hero, Gen. Ante Gotovina, as they anxiously await the outcome of his appeal Friday Nov. 15, 2012 against a war crimes verdict at a U.N. tribunal. Gotovina and Gen. Mladen Markac were last year sentenced to 24 and 18 years in jail respectively for war crimes against minority Serbs during a 1995 military offensive that retook the land held by the rebels. Some 600 Serbs were killed and more than 200,000 were driven from their homes during the operation. (AP Photo/Jerry Lampen, Pool)(Credit: Associated Press)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is delivering its decision in the appeal of two Croatian generals convicted for their roles in a 1995 military offensive to drive Serb rebels out of land they had occupied for years along part of Croatia’s border with Bosnia.

The generals, Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, were sentenced to 24 and 18 years respectively in 2011 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Judges ruled both men were part of a criminal conspiracy led by former Croat president Franjo Tudjman to expel Serbs.

They are still considered heroes in their home country for their roles in Operation Storm, the battle seen as sealing Croatia’s independence as the former Yugoslavia crumbled.

Croatian war veterans’ organizations called for prayers for the generals ahead of Friday’s appeals judgment.

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