THE acquittal of Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac of war crimes during the bloody 1990s break-up of Yugoslavia has been met with mixed reactions.
While supporters of the generals at home in Croatia cheered and set off fireworks, the acquittals enraged hardline opponents of the UN court in Serbia who accuse its judges of anti-Serb bias.
Serbia's nationalist President Tomislav Nikolic said in a statement the "scandalous" decision by the Hague court was clearly "political and not legal" and "will not contribute to stabilisation of the situation in the region but will reopen all wounds".
Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, also branded the ruling as "scandalous", saying it endangers the general principle that war crimes must be punished.
"This was one of the biggest war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, murder, expulsion and endangering of several hundred thousand people and no one was held responsible," Vukcevic told The Associated Press.
Rasim Ljajic, the Serbian government official who deals with the tribunal, said the court has "lost all credibility".
"What happened today is just evidence of selective justice which is worse than any injustice," Ljajic said. "The decision will only worsen the perception of the tribunal in our public."
Gotovina's and Markac's convictions were one of the few at the tribunal to punish perpetrators of atrocities against Serb civilians. The majority of criminals convicted have been Serbs.
The Bosnian Serb wartime leader and military chief, Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, are currently on trial for allegedly masterminding Serb atrocities.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic called the ruling "an important moment for Croatia".
The country's liberal president, Ivo Josipovic, said it was "proof that the Croatian army did not take part in a criminal enterprise" and "a symbolic satisfaction for all victims of the war".
Vesna Skare Ozbolt, former legal adviser of late President Tudjman, said the verdict "corrects all wrongs about our just war" and "proves that there was no ethnic cleansing in Croatia and that it was all lies".
Tudjman died in 1999, while under investigation by the tribunal.
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