TAMPA, Fla., April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Republic of Croatia and its retired General Ante Gotovina have hired Tampa attorney Gregory W. Kehoe to investigate and defend the case pending against General Gotovina at The Hague. Mr. Kehoe formerly served in Iraq as the United State's top legal advisor to the tribunal now trying Saddam Hussein for war crimes. In an interview, Mr. Kehoe said he was pleased to be retained by General Gotovina, and he promised a full airing of the facts regarding the general's case. General Gotovina is regarded by many Croats as a war hero for his role for reclaiming occupied territories for his country, according to the BBC. He is charged with crimes stemming from a 1995 military operation to reclaim the breakaway region of Serbian Krajina. The Croatian star of the U.S. television series ER, Goran Visnjic, recently announced he would play Gotovina in an upcoming film, telling the Associated Press that "Gotovina is a metaphor for today's Croatia." Kehoe stated that General Gotovina was not guilty of any wrongdoing. Prosecutors at The Hague had incorrectly applied international standards to a long-running civil war within Croatia, Kehoe said. "The Croatian government was trying to neutralize an insurgent group in its own country," Kehoe said. "Certainly this was a legitimate military operation." Kehoe said it was hard to know how long a trial could be until prosecutors released more details about their case. "Will they call 25 witnesses? Will they call 200? That will dictate the length of the trial." Kehoe served as a prosecutor at The Hague between 1995 and 1999, as part of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Kehoe said the knowledge of the history and geography of that region that he acquired at that time will be invaluable in his representation of General Gotovina. James, Hoyer is an investigative law firm. The firm's eight full-time investigators work with experienced attorneys to resolve clients' problems in cases across the U.S. and around the globe. Individuals, organizations and governments have hired the firm for its unique fact-gathering abilities. The firm has a long record of successfully representing consumers, investors and whistleblowers in fraud cases, and has to date returned more than $2 billion to victims of wrongdoing. The firm's website is located at http://www.jameshoyer.com/ . More information about Mr. Kehoe's international experience can be found at http://www.jameshoyer.com/gregkehoe . DATASOURCE: James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich P.A. CONTACT: Larry Dougherty of James, Hoyer, Newcomer & Smiljanich P.A., +1-813-286-4100, or Web site: http://www.jameshoyer.com/ http://www.jameshoyer.com/gregkehoe

Copyright