- Mirko Norac
-
Mirko Norac (born 19 September 1967) is a former general of the Croatian Army. In 2003 he became the first Croatian Army general to be found guilty of war crimes by a Croatian court after he was transferred from The Hague. He is serving a 12 year sentence[1] for the Gospić massacre of ethnic Serb civilians for which, in May 2008, he was sentenced to an additional 7 years in prison for war crimes in the Operation Medak Pocket.
Contents
Military service
Mirko Norac was born in the village of Otok, Yugoslavia, now part of the Republic of Croatia. He attended school in Sinj.[2]
Soon after the first multi-party elections in Croatia in August 1990, Norac joined the Ministry of Interior. On 12 September 1990 he joined the Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit, a unit of the Croatian police. As a member of the Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit, he took part in several early operations of the Croatian police forces[2] including the Plitvice Lakes incident.
Gospić Operations
GospićGospić (Croatia)In September 1991 Norac left the police force and moved to Gospić where he took part in fighting against local Serbs and Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) units. The town was surrounded from 3 sides and there was a JNA barracks, the Stanko Opsenica (with around 70 officers and 200 soldiers, plus numerous Serbian paramilitaries) situated in it. After four days of siege, led by Norac, the JNA surrendered the barracks. In mid-September 1991 Norac was appointed commander of the 118th Brigade of the Croatian Army.[3] One month later he took part in event known as the Gospić massacre when between 100-120 local Serbs were murdered by men under his command. Norac became the youngest colonel of the Croatian Army.[2] He was also appointed commander of the 118th Brigade of the Croatian Army.[3]
Maslenica and Medak
In November 1992 Norac was named the commander of the 6th Guards Brigade which was soon renamed to the 9th Guards Motorised Brigade.[3] He took part in Operation Maslenica in early 1993. He went on to command Operation Medak Pocket, during which time war crimes against the local ethnic Serb population were committed.[citation needed] In the operation Norac was wounded in both hands and legs by an unexploded land mine.[4] He spent a month in a Zagreb hospital, and then returned to Gospić. In 1994 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier and appointed commander of the Gospić Operational Zone.[3] That same year he became the duke of Alkarsko društvo. The Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić, and other top Croatian officials attended the event.[5]
Operation Storm and after
Norac took part in Operation Storm in August 1995 and on 25 September 1995 he was promoted to the rank of Major General.[3] On 15 March 1996, Norac was appointed commander of the Knin Corps District.[3]
The President of Croatia Stevo Mesić discharged Norac from the Croatian Army on 29 September 2000 after he signed the so-called Twelve Generals' Letter against what was claimed to be "criminalization" of the Croatian War of Independence.[citation needed]
War crimes
Gospić killings
Main article: Gospić massacreOn 16 October 1991[6] Tihomir Orešković (Secretary of Lika Crisis Headquarters) called a meeting to organise the killing of ethnic Serb civilians in the area.[1] During that meeting a list of Serbs to be executed was made.[6] Norac reportedly attended the meeting, among a group of masked and unmasked soldiers and civil policemen, which later raided houses in Gospić and took custody of ethnic Serb civilians, informing them that they were to be interrogated.[6] He organised and directed the executions of the civilians in a desolate area near the town.[6] He executed one woman himself to incite the killing.[1]
On 8 February 2001 an arrest warrant for Norac was issued by the Ministry of Interior, and Norac, then living in Zagreb, asked the Zagreb police if he could turn himself in at another location, Rijeka, to avoid the media.[6] He was allowed to do so but used the opportunity to escape. Sixteen days later (on 22 February) he turned himself in, denying all charges.[7] On 5 March 2001, an indictment against Norac, Tihomir Orešković, Stjepan Grandić, Ivica Rožić and Milan Canić was issued, accusing them of the murder of 50 civilians at Karlobag, Pazarište and Lipova glavica.[1] According to some testimonies, the liquidation of Serbs came as revenge for the Široka Kula massacre, committed by rebel Serbs a few days before.[citation needed]
The trial at Rijeka County Court lasted for 14 months and over 150 witnesses testified, including Croatian soldiers and civilians. On 24 March 2003, Norac was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Orešković and Grandić were sentenced to 15 and 10 years and Rožić and Canić were acquitted of all charges due to lack of evidence. Norac is serving his sentence in Glina, where he has was allowed, on at least one occasion, to go home for a weekend to visit family in Sinj.[8]
Operation Medak Pocket
Main article: Operation Medak PocketOn 20 May 2004 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued an indictment against Norac (and Rahim Ademi and Janko Bobetko) for crimes committed during Operation Medak pocket in 1993.
The indictment against Norac stated that as a result of the Croatian military operation, " ... the Medak Pocket became uninhabitable. The villages of the Pocket were completely destroyed, thereby depriving the Serbian civilian population of their homes and livelihood."[9] He was accused of having "planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of persecutions of Serb civilians of the Medak Pocket on racial, political or religious grounds", and of the "mutilation and desecration of the body of Boja Pjevać; the public killing of Boja Vujnović by burning her alive".[9]
On 8 July 2004, Norac was transferred to an ICTY courtroom in The Hague where he pleaded not guilty to all five charges brought against him. The judge ruled that he did not have to remain in the ICTY prison and could be returned to prison in Croatia. On 14 September 2005 the ICTY decided to transfer the Ademi-Norac case (Bobetko had died in the interim) to Croatian jurisdiction as the first ICTY case to be transferred to a local court. The trials of Norac and Ademi began at the Zagreb County Court in June 2007 and ended a year later on 30 May 2008. He was found guilty of failing to stop soldiers under his command from killing and torturing Serbs. He was sentenced to an additional 7 years imprisonment.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d United Nations/ICTY report on Norac
- ^ a b c (Croatian) Biography of Mirko Norac
- ^ a b c d e f ICTY Case Information Sheet on Mirko Norac
- ^ (Croatian) Article on Mirko Norac in "Slobodna Dalmacija" daily (part 2)
- ^ Slavodobitnik Ante Poljak, najstariji alkar, s čak tri sride - Jutarnji.hr
- ^ a b c d e Zoran Daskalović: "Crystal Power", Feral Tribune (magazine), 10 February 2001
- ^ BBC News, "Hero or war crimes suspect?"
- ^ Imprisonment in Glina with privileges
- ^ a b (English) ICTY indictment against Norac for Operation Medak Pocket
- ^ "Croatia jails war crimes general", BBC News, 30 May 2008.
External links
Categories:- 1967 births
- Living people
- People from Otok, Dalmatia
- Croatian people convicted of war crimes
- Croatian army officers
- People of the Croatian War of Independence
- People indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
- Prisoners and detainees of Croatia
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
