Croatian General Ivan Cermak, whom the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Friday acquitted of all counts of a war crimes indictment and released from custody, arrived in Zagreb late on Friday afternoon aboard a Croatian government plane from the Netherlands.
Upon his arrival, Cermak said that he was shocked and could not feel well because of the ICTY's guilty verdict against the two other generals indicted in the case, Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac.
"I will assist them and be their helping hand outside," Cermak said.
Cermak, who arrived at Zagreb Airport in the company of his lawyers, Stephen Kay and Gillian Higgins, was welcomed by Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor.
He said that after the rendering of the judgement, Gotovina, Markac and he were in dismay, but also aware that the judgement was a gross injustice.
"The verdict read out by Judge (Alphons) Orie was actually the closing argument of the prosecution, from the joint criminal enterprise onwards," Cermak said.
"Nobody can feel well in Croatia after this judgement."
Cermak went on to say that this was only the first half of the game and that now it should be seen what could be done in the appeals proceedings.
He said that although they had not expected the guilty verdicts, Gotovina and Markac stoically accepted the rulings.
Generals Gotovina and Markac were found guilty of eight counts in the nine-count indictment. Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years in prison and Markac got 18 years for war crimes committed during the August 1995 Operation Storm, when Croatian forces reclaimed areas held by Serb rebels.
The verdicts are subject to appeal.
