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Croatian monastery accused of harboring war criminal

The chief prosecutor for the U.N. tribunal for Balkans war crimes has said that a Roman Catholic monastery in Croatia is sheltering a fugitive Croatian general charged with atrocities against Serb civilians and that the Vatican has refused pleas to help find him. Ante Gotovina is accused of overseeing the murders of at least 150 Serbs and the forced expulsion of tens of thousands near the end of the 1991-95 civil war.

In Croatia, which is overwhelmingly Catholic, Gotovina is regarded by many as a hero who helped liberate the Krajina valley from largely Orthodox Serb rebels in 1995. He is the top-ranking Croat being sought by the U.N. court. The European Union has said it would not consider Croatia`s request for membership until officials turn Gotovina over to the tribunal, located in The Hague.

A church spokesman in Croatia, Anton Suljic, said, ",We reject the accusations against the Holy See and the Catholic Church in Croatia,", the HINA news agency reported from the capital, Zagreb.