In 2005, Croatia's prospects for Euro-Atlantic integration depended entirely on one man. Surprisingly, it was neither the country's prime minister, nor the president, nor any other government official, but rather a former French Foreign Legionnaire and retired Croatian Army general who determined the progress of Croatia's bid for membership of NATO and the European Union. The arrest of General Ante Gotovina, who had been in hiding since his indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was made public in the summer of 2001, was the litmus test for Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal in The Hague, and correspondingly the country's readiness for further European integration. The fugitive general and hero of Croatia's war for independence (Domovinski rat, or Homeland War, 1991-1995) had transformed from being merely one name on a long list of individuals suspected of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and had become the cause of Croatia's foremost political dilemma. The four and a half year drama of Gotovina's flight from justice epitomised the unresolved legacies of devastating interethnic conflict, Croatia's relations with the ICTY and the EU, and internal political struggles in the wake of the post-communist transition. By 2005, Gotovina's transfiguration into a political symbol reached a high point, both domestically, where radical nationalist opposition groups used him to challenge the pro-EU policies of the government, and internationally, where he was cited as evidence of Croatia's alleged non-cooperation with the ICTY.