ISN SECURITY WATCH (Monday, 12 December: 16.03 CET) - Wartime Croatian General Ante Gotovina pleaded not guilty on Monday to war crimes charges against him at the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Gotovina was arrested late on Wednesday by Spanish authorities in the Canary Islands after four years on the run.

He was extradited to the UN war crimes tribunal’s detention unit on Saturday.

According to the ICTY, Gotovina is charged with “persecutions, murder, plunder of property, deportation and forced displacement, and other inhumane acts, which took place under his command and control, against the Serb population during the 1995 military offensive”.

Tens of thousands of Croatians protested against Gotovina’s arrest and extradition over the weekend.