Over 500 Croats living in the New York area have protested outside the United Nations headquarters against unfair verdicts by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague against Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, the Croatian Chronicle Network reported on its website on Wednesday.
The protesters called upon the UN and the international community to review the circumstances under which the verdicts were handed down.
The Hague tribunal's verdict is unfair, the Croatian generals are not guilty of the crimes they are charged with, they only defended their country that was attacked in a war that was imposed on Croatia, we want a fair verdict for generals Gotovina and Markac -- these were messages from the peaceful protest that was held outside the UN building on the East River on Tuesday.
Marijana Sprajc said on behalf of the organisers that the Croatian generals enjoyed the full support and gratitude of the Croats both in Croatia and abroad, and that Croatia was successfully defended in the war thanks to the generals.
We want to tell the generals that we stand by them and that we will not forget them, Boris Miketic said. He called on those gathered to continue to show solidarity with the generals and to attend future events that were to be organised in support of the generals.
The peaceful protest, launched via the on-line social network Facebook, drew mainly young, first and second generation Croatian emigrants. All the protesters expressed their disappointment at the verdict, saying that it was untenable because it was unfair.
Croatia was attacked, it suffered unspeakable destruction and it was a victim. The verdict against the generals is unbelievable and tragic, because it falsifies history. Operation Storm was not a criminal enterprise but a legitimate military operation, the Croatian Chronicle Network quoted protesters as saying.
