Mirko Norac

Mirko Norac (born 19 September 1967) is a former Croatian general of the Croatian Army (HV), and a convicted war criminal. He was the first Croatian Army general to be found guilty of war crimes by a Croatian court, in 2003, after his case was transferred from The Hague to Zagreb. He was released on probation in November 2011.

Military service Mirko Norac (also known as Mirko Norac Kevo) was born in the village of Otok, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now part of the Republic of Croatia. He attended school in Sinj.

In mid-September 1991, Norac was appointed commander of the 118th Brigade of the Croatian Army. One month later he took part in event known as the Gospić massacre when between 100 and 120 local Serbs were murdered by men under his command. Norac became the youngest colonel of the Croatian Army, and was appointed commander of the 118th Brigade of the Croatian Army. 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. In the operation Norac was wounded in both hands and legs by an unexploded land mine. One Croatian officer described Norac at a time as: "young, arrogant, courageous but also self-willing".

He spent a month in a Zagreb hospital, then returned to Gospić. In 1994, he was promoted to brigadier and appointed commander of the Gospić Operational Zone.

Operation Storm and after Norac took part in Operation Storm in August 1995. On 25 September 1995, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. On 15 March 1996, Norac was appointed commander of the Knin Corps District.

War crimes Gospić killings

On 16 October 1991, Tihomir Orešković (Secretary of Lika Crisis Headquarters) called a meeting to organise the killing of ethnic Serb civilians in the area. During that meeting a list of local Serbs to be murdered was formulated. 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. He organised and directed the executions of the civilians in a desolate area near the town, executing one woman himself. Those murdered included Radmila Stanić, Branko Kuzmanović, Branko Štulić, Stanko Smiljanić, Radojka Diklić, Mirjana Kalanj, Đorđe Kalanj, Dane Bulj, Milan Pantelić, Mileva Orlović, Miloš Orlović, Radovan Barać, Ljubica Trifunović, Petar Lazić, Borka Vraneš, Bogdan Šuput, Dušanka Vraneš, Nikola Gajić and Željko Mrkić. On 5 March 2001, an indictment against Norac, Orešković, Stjepan Grandić, Ivica Rožić and Milan Canić was issued, accusing them of the murder of 50 civilians at Karlobag, Pazarište and Lipova glavica. He was released on probation in November 2011, after serving no more than eight years.

Operation Medak Pocket

On 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 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." Norac 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".

Family Norac married Jelena Midenjak, a dentist. The couple have at least two children.