Mirko Norac (born September 19 1967) is former general of Croatian Army and a convicted war criminal. He was youngest ever colonel of Croatian Army, duke of Sinjska alka and some say that many consider him a war hero. In 2003 he was first general of the Croatian Army to be found guilty of war crimes by a Croatian court and is currently serving a 12 year sentence^[1].

Norac was born on 19 September 1967 in hamlet Keve, village Otok, municipality of Sinj, Croatia and attended school there in Sinj^[2]. After finishing waiter high school, he worked as a waiter for a couple of years (although that is disputed by some^[3]).

Soon after the first multi-party elections in Croatia in August of 1990, Norac joined the Ministry of Interior. On September 12 of that year he became a member of the Lučko anti-terrorist unit (ATJ Lučko). ATJ Lučko is a unit of the Croatian police and in 1991 it was used to deal with early incidents which developed into the Croatian War of Independence. As a member of ATJ Lučko, Norac took part in several early operations of the Croatian police forces^[2] including the Plitvice Lakes incident^[3].

In September of 1991 Norac left the police force and moved to Gospić where he took part in fighting against local rebelling Serbs and Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) units. On September 12 or 13 of 1991 Norac was appointed commander of the 118th Brigade of the Croatian Army^[4]. One month later he took part in an event known as the Gospić massacre when around 100-120 local Serbs were murdered by men under his command. In early 1992 (at the age of 25) he became the youngest colonel of the Croatian Army^[2].

In November of 1992 Norac became commander of the 6th Guards Brigade which was soon renamed to the 9th Guards Motorised Brigade^[4]. He took part in operation Maslenica (early 1993). In September of the same year he commanded operation Medak pocket, during which war crimes against local Serb population were committed. In the operation Norac was wounded in both hands and legs by an unexploded land mine^[5]. He spent a month in a hospital in Zagreb, and then returned to Gospić. In 1994 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier and appointed commander of the Gospić Operational Zone^[4]. That same year he became the duke of Alkarsko društvo, which is the highest honour a man from Sinj can receive.

Norac took part in Operation Storm in August of 1995 and in September 25 1995 he was promoted to the rank of Major General^[4]. On March 15 1996, Norac was appointed commander of the Knin Corps District^[4]. The President of Croatia discharged him from the Croatian Army on September 29 2000 after he signed an open letter against the criminalization of the Croatian War of Independence which, being a political move, was deemed illegal for active Croatian servicemen. Some say that Croatian jurists are divided on this issue and that many claim that Croatian constitution explicitly allowed political activity of the Croatian military.

On October 16 ^[6] 1991 Tihomir Orešković (Secretary of Lika Crisis Headquarters called a meeting of Lika Crisis Headquarters to organise the killing of Serb civilians in the area.^[1] During that meeting a list of Serbs to be executed was made^[6]. Norac attended the meeting, and he was in group of masked and unmasked soldiers and civil policemen which raided houses in Gospić and took Serb civilians, informing them that they were to be interrogated^[6]. He organised and directed the executions of these gathered Serbs on no man's land near the town^[6]. He executed one woman himself to incite the killing.^[1]

On February 8 2001 an arrest warrant for Norac was issued by Ministry of Interior, and Norac, then living in Zagreb, came to Zagreb police department and asked if he could turn himself in in Rijeka to evade a crowd and media^[6]. He was allowed to do this and used the opportunity to escape in an unknown direction. Sixteen days later (on February 22) he turned himself in and denied all charges. On March 5 2001, an indictment against Norac, Tihomir Orešković, Stjepan Grandić, Ivica Rožić and Milan Canić was issued. It accused them of murdering 50 civilians in Karlobag, Pazarište and Lipova glavica^[1].

The trial at Rijeka County Court lasted for 14 months and over 150 witnesses testified, including some Croatian soldiers and civilians. On March 24 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).

On May 20 2004 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued an indictment against Mirko Norac (together with 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."^[7]. He is accused of "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", accused of "mutilation and desecration of the body of Boja Pjevac; the public killing of Boja Vujnovic by burning her alive^[7].

On July 8 2004 Norac was transferred to an ICTY courtroom in The Hague where he pled not guilty to all five charges brought against him. The judge decided he didn't have to stay in the ICTY prison and could be returned to prison in Croatia. On September 14 2005 ICTY decided to transfer the Ademi-Norac case (Bobetko died in the meantime) to Croatian jurisdiction as the first ICTY case ever to be transferred to local court. There was the issuance of an indictment of Mirko Norac by Rijeka County Court. He's was given a 12 year sentence.

• BBC analysis of Mirko Norac case