THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The United Nations war crimes court urged Croatia on Thursday to track down a fugitive general charged with crimes against humanity after a fellow commander surrendered earlier this week to face trial. (Read photo caption below). The international court said it expected Zagreb to find retired general Ante Gotovina. Another veteran Croat general, Rahim Ademi, flew to the Netherlands and pleaded not guilty in his first appearance in court on Thursday.
Croatia recaptured territory in Operation Storm from minority Krajina Serbs who rose up against Zagreb's 1991 declaration of independence from federal Yugoslavia.
Operation Storm, followed by an orgy of anti-Serb terror, arson, looting and murder, caused the displacement or effective deportation of up to 200,000 Krajina Serbs between August and November of 1995, according to the indictment against Gotovina.
At least 150 Krajina Serbs were killed or disappeared around the time of the offensive, which was carried out under hardline nationalist President Franjo Tudjman. He died in 1999 and his party lost elections soon afterwards to democratic reformers.
Ademi, like Gotovina regarded by many Croats as a national hero of the ``Homeland War,'' was in court on Thursday only 24 hours after arriving voluntarily in The Hague.
He pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering and persecuting Serb civilians in 1993 during Croatia's four-year conflict with the Yugoslav-backed Krajina Serbs.
The highest-ranking ethnic Albanian in the Croatian army, Ademi is charged with crimes against humanity for an attack by Croatian forces in the so-called Medak Pocket in the rebel Krajina region of Croatia in early September 1993.
Dressed in a dark suit, white-shirt and tie, Ademi heard the charges of murder, persecution, plunder and the destruction of towns and villages read out before entering his plea.
He told the court that his health was good and that he had no complaints about conditions in the United Nations detention unit in The Hague, where the most prominent war crimes suspect, ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, is also being held.Ademi has said that his conduct during the 1991-95 conflict was unblemished.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Croatian army general Rahim Ademi arrived at Zagreb airport, July 25, 2001 before his flight to the Netherlands where he surrendered voluntarily to the United Nations war crimes tribunal and face charges. (Hrvoje Polan/Reuters