Brammertz made the statement at a conference on challenges in international criminal investigations, organised on April 20 by the United Nations Association in collaboration with the Royal Institute for International Relations.

Operation Storm was a legitimate action aimed at liberating the occupied areas, Vjesnik quoted Brammertz as saying at the conference.

The paper reports that in his address at the London conference, Brammertz explained that the operation was carried out in Croatian areas that had been occupied for several years by local Serbs, who were supported by Serbia and the then Yugoslav People's Army. Brammertz also repeated the allegation of a joint criminal enterprise and the crimes Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak were charged with, says Vjesnik.

The fact that Operation Storm was a liberation operation did not mean that crimes could be committed during its course, Brammertz said at the conference, reiterating that the Hague tribunal's verdict against generals Gotovina and Markac was not a verdict against the entire Croatian people or the state, but against individuals.

The Hague war crimes tribunal on April 15 handed down a non-final verdict in the case of Gotovina, Markac and Cermak, sentencing Gotovina and Markac to 24 and 18 years in prison respectively for involvement in a joint criminal enterprise the aim of which was to permanently remove the Serb population from Croatian areas previously held by Serb rebels. Cermak was acquitted.

Brammertz will visit Zagreb on May 4 as part of preparations for his regular June report to the UN Security Council on Croatia's cooperation with his office. One of the benchmarks for the closing of the policy chapter Judiciary and Fundamental Rights in Croatia's EU accession talks is an assessment that Croatia fully cooperates with the UN court in The Hague.