Croatian war crimes suspect General Ante Gotovina will make his first appearance at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague on Monday.

He was transferred there on Saturday from Spain, where he was arrested last Wednesday, after four years on the run.

He is charged with atrocities against Croatian Serbs during the Balkan wars. He is expected to plead not guilty.

Tens of thousands of Croats demonstrated on Sunday in Split in support of a man some regard as a hero.

Gen Gotovina is due to appear at 1145 GMT.

Prosecutors accuse him of belonging to a joint criminal enterprise with the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and others.

The indictment, dating from 2001, says they planned the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from their self-declared republic of Krajina in Croatia, during Operation Storm in 1995.

Gen Gotovina is charged with responsibility for the alleged murder of about 150 Serbs, persecution, and the deportation of thousands.

About 200,000 Serbs - many elderly - were forced out of the region during the offensive.

Gen Gotovina, 50, was the tribunal's third-most-wanted suspect.

He was seized in Spain's Canary Islands.

Now the Hague's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, is pressing for the two top fugitives, Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, to face justice.

In the Croatian city of Split on Sunday supporters of Gen Gotovina rallied, carrying banners reading: "We were defended by a hero, not a criminal."

Many of the participants carried large photographs of the indictee, as the Croatian national anthem was played out.

"Ante Croatia", "General, we are with you!", read some of the banners, held by demonstrators some of whom wore black t-shirts with the caption "Ante Gotovina - pride of his homeland."

PHOTO CAPTION

TV grab from Euronews shows a video released by Spanish police of Croatian ex-general Ante Gotovina aboard an aircraft taking him to the Netherlands 10 December. (AFP)

Source: BBC