ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION<br/> <br />Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac arrived home to a hero's welcome in Zagreb after their acquittal by a UN war crimes court on Friday (November 16).<br/> <br />The red carpet was rolled out and guards lined up at the Zagreb airport to welcome the two men.<br/> <br />Dressed in a dark suit and tie, a visibly content and relaxed Gotovina was the first to leave the aircraft. He shook hands with Prime Minister Koran Milanovic and hugged several of his wartime officers. Dozens of well-wishers scrambled onto the runway to shake his hand or take a picture.<br/> <br />Gotovina and Markac made no comments to reporters and only briefly posed with a Croatian flag before proceeding to Zagreb's main square, where thousands of cheering Croats were already chanting and waving flags and their pictures.<br/> <br />An appeals court overturned on Friday the conviction of Gotovina, the most senior Croatian military officer charged with war crimes during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s.<br/> <br />Gotovina, who was commander in the Split district of the Croatian army, had been jailed for 24 years. The conviction of Mladen Markac, a Croatian police commander who had been serving an 18-year sentence, was also overturned.<br/> <br />The two had been convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes during the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia. Judges ordered the pair's immediate release.
