A few war veterans' associations will organise a rally of support to Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac on Friday in Zagreb's main square during the announcement of a judgement of the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the case against the two Croatian generals.
Veteran leaders Josip Klemm and Ilija Vucemilovic emphasised at a news conference in Zagreb on Tuesday that this would be a rally of support and that the event was not designed as a protest rally.
This will be a gathering of unity, and to gather in prayer and to promote truth and justice, Klemm said calling on war veterans and all citizens to join in the event in Ban Jelacic Square which is schedule start at 9 am on 16 November.
The organisers said that politicians would be banned from speaking at the rally.
They also called on citizens and Homeland Defence War veterans to attend vespers and prayers in Zagreb Cathedral on Thursday.
Last year the Hague-based tribunal's Trial Chamber sentenced Gotovina and Markac to 24 years and 18 years in prison respectively for war crimes committed by Croatian forces against Serbs during and after a military offensive known as Operation Storm which crushed a Serb insurgency in central and southern Croatia in the summer of 1995. Recently, the UN tribunal's Appeals Chamber in this case announced the delivery of its final verdict at a hearing set for 16 November in The Hague.
Gotovina has been in the Scheveningen detention centre of the UN tribunal since December 2005, and Markac since March 2004.
