Ante Gotovina

Ante Gotovina
Gotovina at the 20th Anniversary of Operation Storm in August 2015
Born	(1955-10-12) 12 October 1955 (age 61) Tkon, P.R. Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Allegiance	France (1973–1978)  Croatia (1991–2000)  Herzeg-Bosnia
Service/branch	French Army Croatian Army
Years of service	1973–2000
Rank	Caporal-chef (in French Army) Lieutenant General (in Croatian Army)
Unit	2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment Commando Parachute Group 1st Guards Brigade
Commands held	HVO Livno Split military district HV Inspectorate
Battles/wars	Battle of Kolwezi Croatian War of Independence and Bosnian War Operation Maslenica Operation Winter '94 Operation Summer '95 Operation Storm Operation Mistral 2 Operation Southern Move
Awards	Order of Duke Domagoj Order of Nikola Šubić Zrinski Order of Ban Jelačić Order of Ante Starčević Order of the Croatian Cross Order of the Croatian Trefoil Order of the Croatian Interlace Homeland's Gratitude Medal
Website	www.antegotovina.com

Ante Gotovina (born 12 October 1955) is a Croatian 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 (ICTY) 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 ICTY and he was released from custody.

Ante Gotovina was born in Tkon on the island of Pašman. His father Milan tried to move with his mother to Italy, but was caught by the Yugoslav border police. His mother was released while his father spent time in prison. When Gotovina was nearly four, his mother was killed saving him from an explosion at a construction site. Subsequently, his father went to work in Zagreb, while Gotovina and his siblings went to live with their maternal grandfather Šime in Pakoštane. Around Easter of 1971, Gotovina and his friend Srećko tried to escape by sailing away. They soon returned to Pakoštane after a storm caused troubles at sea. Gotovina hid his attempt to escape from his family and continued to attend school for electrical engineering in Zadar.

At the age of sixteen, Gotovina left home to become a sailor. In 1973, before turning eighteen, he joined the French Foreign Legion under the pseudonym of Andrija Grabovac and became a member of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) after qualifying at the Training School in Pau before joining the elite Commandos de Recherche et d'Action en Profondeur (CRAP) now renamed as Parachute Commando Group (GCP). It was there he met Dominique Erulin, brother of the Colonel Philippe Erulin, who became his friend and partner in future missions. In the next few years, he participated in Foreign Legion operations in Djibouti, the Battle of Kolwezi in Zaire, and missions in the Ivory Coast, becoming Colonel Erulin's driver. After five years of service, he left the Legion with the rank of caporal-chef; he obtained French citizenship in 1979.