The Great Powers did not affect the handing down of the Draconian sentences which the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal gave to Croatian general Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, former spokeswoman for the ICTY Prosecutor's Office Florence Hartmann told Slovenia's POP-TV commercial television on Sunday evening.
Some of the Great Powers wanted that Gotovina be acquitted, Hartmann, who was the spokeswoman for former ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, said during a panel debate on the ICTY judgement and its possible consequences on Croatia and the region.
Croatia had the right to defend its independence and integrity, Hartmann said.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Friday sentenced General Ante Gotovina to 24 years in prison and General Mladen Markac to 18 years in prison for their participation in a joint criminal enterprise, the aim of which was to forcibly and permanently remove the Serb population from occupied areas of Croatia during and after Operation Storm, launched on August 4, 1995. The Hague tribunal acquitted the third Croatian general in this case, Ivan Cermak. Cermak returned to Croatia on Friday.
