page_title: Ante Gotovina
section_title: After release
hierarchical_section_title: Ante Gotovina / After release
caption_attribution_description: English: A billboard showing a picture of Ante Gotovina on a road near Dubrovnik.
context_page_description: Ante Gotovina is a Croatian-French retired lieutenant general and former French senior corporal who served in the Croatian War for Independence. He is noted for his primary role in the 1995 Operation Storm. In 2001, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted him on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges in connection with that operation and its aftermath. After spending four years in hiding, he was captured in the Canary Islands in December 2005.
  On 16 November 2012, Gotovina's convictions were overturned by an appeals panel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and he was released from custody.
context_section_description: After the generals' release, the Croatian government dispatched the governmental Bombardier Challenger 600 plane along with the Minister of Defence, Ante Kotromanović, and the Minister of Veterans' Affairs, Predrag Matić, to bring Gotovina and Markač to Croatia. In Zagreb, they were greeted by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović and the Speaker of Parliament Josip Leko. Around 100,000 people heard them speak at the Ban Jelačić Square, after which Cardinal Josip Bozanić held a mass for them at the Zagreb Cathedral. The two generals were then received by the President at the Presidential Palace where Gotovina said that the "Homeland War is now clean, it belongs to our history, it is a basis on which we build our future."
  Matić said that Gotovina and Markač are amongst the candidates for a new highest Croatian decoration.
  On 19 November 2012, the Belgrade-based tabloid Kurir ran an interview with Gotovina, who urged Serbs displaced after Operation Storm to return to Croatia.
  On 23 November 2012, Gotovina became an honorary citizen of Split and the next day he became an honorary citizen of Zadar. On 2 December he was named honorary citizen of Osijek along with Markač.
  In November 2012, Serbia's government requested that the ICTY transfer the evidence against both generals to them for their own investigation. In January 2013, Serbia's War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević said that the acquittal was final and a review of the case was impossible.
  On 7 January 2014, it was announced that Gotovina had filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Treasury to lift economic sanctions imposed against him, which had been in place for more than a decade, listing Gotovina as a Specially Designated National in 2003, subject to economic sanctions. On 6 February, the Federal Register announced Gotovina's removal from the list.
  In 2016, a prominent Croatian film director and actor Antun Vrdoljak, announced making a film, The General, about life of Ante Gotovina, based on Nenad Ivanković's book Warrior-Adventurer and General (A Biography) Croatian Hollywood actor Goran Višnjić who plays Gotovina in the film announced that he won't take any money for this role and that he will participate in the film for free. Croatian Ministry of Defence also announced that they will give all the necessary equipment without charge.
caption: A billboard showing a picture of Ante Gotovina on a road near Dubrovnik.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A710 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2014:06:27 18:36:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3927", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:06:27 18:36:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:06:27 18:36:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "133/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "22763/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3072", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2304", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3080", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "40960/3", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2304000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}