Recently acquitted general Mladen Markac spoke to local reporters in front of the "Podravka" food company in Koprivnica on Monday and said that now he was free, he planned to write books and become involved in humanitarian activities, but vehemently rejected any idea of going into politics.
Asked if he was satisfied with the country as it is now, he said that he had yet to see.
I've been away for six years but I kept in tune with what was happening. Naturally, I hope that things will get better, he said.
I spent five years on the front lines and then they said I was a war criminal. That wasn't easy. I turned myself in to the Hague tribunal because I believed that I had done nothing wrong and did the best I could for the homeland, and then at one point you realise that based on some half lies you are proclaimed a war criminal. That slurred me and all those under my command. That was painful. But the acquittal was a shock and a great joy, the general said.
We can finally say that our struggle was one of liberation and that it was clean. There were mistakes made but the Croatian government was clean and there was no criminal conspiracy, said Markac.
He and General Ante Gotovina were acquitted by the Hague war crimes tribunal on Friday.
It was most difficult to sit through while the verdict was being read, he said, recalling that the fact that their defence team was of such quality was significant in the entire process.
He commented that while in detention he had experienced health problems and was grateful that prison authorities reacted promptly and he recovered well.
