Croatian officer gives himeslf up to the war crimes tribunal

Описание: (25 Jul 2001)

1. Wide shot entrance to airport
2. Mid shot airport building
3. Car pulling up
4. General Rahim Ademi taking case from car
5. Cutaway, interior airport terminal
6. SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) General Rahim Ademi, Croatian War General "I am personally going to The Hague because I don't feel guilty. I haven't done any of the things they accuse me of doing and I believe I will be back soon."
7. General Rahim Ademi walking through terminal
8. SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat) General Rahim Ademi, Croatian War General "There were some pressures for me to make this decision. We discussed it and I considered escaping, but I personally don't feel guilty. I feel completely innocent. I hope that when I come back the same number of people and journalists will be waiting for me."
9. Various General Rahim Ademi walking through terminal
10. Mid shot interior terminal
11. Mid shot exterior terminal

STORYLINE:

A Croatian army general has travelled to the Netherlands to surrender to the U-N War Crimes Tribunal where he faces charges of overseeing a war-time campaign that killed about 70 Serb civilians and destroyed hundreds of homes.

General Rahim Ademi is the first Croat to face charges stemming from the 1991-95 Serbo-Croat war.

According to a United Nations report, one of the more gruesome atrocities involved ten Croatian soldiers who sprayed an 84-year-old blind woman with gunfire as she sat on the porch of her home.

Wearing his military uniform decorated with medals, Ademi, his wife, Anita, and his lawyer travelled on a regular Croatian Airlines flight to Amsterdam.

Ademi will be taken from Amsterdam's airport to the tribunal in The Hague.

He boarded the flight without handcuffs or a police guard because he decided to surrender voluntarily.

His two daughters were at the airport to bid him farewell.

"I am proud of my role in the war," he said before he left.

"I am not afraid of The Hague court's accusations. I have done nothing wrong in the war and I will prove it there. My conscience is completely clear."

The tribunal indicted Ademi, along with another high-ranking Croatian officer, and demanded that both suspects be handed over for trial.

Croatia's pro-Western government agreed to comply, but its decision triggered fierce protests by veterans and nationalists who supported the late President Franjo Tudjman.

They see Croatian fighters as heroes and patriots, not criminals.

The second suspect - widely believed to be retired General Ante Gotovina - has indicated a refusal to surrender and his loyalists have threatened unrest if he's arrested.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest but he remains at large.

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