Appeals judges at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal have overturned the convictions of two Croat generals for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against Serb civilians in a 1995 military blitz.

Three generals regarded as national heroes in Croatia went on trial today at the UN war crimes tribunal for orchestrating the slaughter of at least 150 Serbs.

A wartime leader of Croatia’s rebel Serbs was today convicted of murder, torture and persecution by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands.

HAD the International Criminal Court existed in 1922, Michael Collins, Tom Barry, Sean Haughey, Dan Breen and, possibly, Eamon de Valera would almost certainly have been forced to answer to it following the war of independence.