BBC News, 15 April 2011
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Two Croatian military leaders have been convicted of atrocities against Serbs during a 1995 campaign of ethnic cleansing, after a trial at The Hague.
Commanders including Ante Gotovina are still regarded as heroes in Croatia |
Judges sentenced Ante Gotovina to 24 years and Mladen Markac to 18 years in jail for crimes including murder, persecution and plunder.
The men helped to plan an operation to retake Croatia's Krajina region and force out its Serbian population.
The war crimes tribunal cleared another defendant, Ivan Cermak, of all charges.
The BBC's Mark Lowen in Zagreb says crowds who had gathered to watch the tribunal's hearing on big screens in the Croatian capital booed and hissed when the judge announced the guilty verdicts.
The men are regarded as heroes by many in Croatia.
Gotovina and Markac were convicted of a range of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed as their forces retook the Krajina region, which had been under Serb control since the start of the war in 1991.
About 200,000 ethnic Serbs were driven from Croatia in 1995 and at least 150 were killed.
Those defending Gotovina said he did all he could to prevent his troops carrying out crimes during the operation.
But judges at The Hague rejected their claims.
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