An international war crimes court on Wednesday rejected a bid by Croatia to take part in an appeal in the case of a former general jailed for 24 years.

Croatia's government had filed a confidential request in December to state its "interests" before the court when the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) considers the challenge by Ante Gotovina.

But in a decision released Wednesday, the UN-backed court denied "the motion in its entirety", adding the argument that such an intervention would be in the national interest was "beyond the scope of the issues on appeal".

Gotovina and his fellow former general Mladen Markac were jailed last April for conspiring with the Zagreb wartime leadership to kill or expel ethnic Serbs during and after an August 1995 military operation.

Croatia's proclamation of independence from the former Yugoslavia sparked the 1991-1995 war, with ethnic Serbs, backed by Belgrade, opposing the move.

Both Gotovina and Markac, who was handed an 18-year sentence by the court in The Hague, are regarded as national heroes in their homeland.

The verdicts were widely criticised in Croatia with then prime minister Jadranka Kosor describing the ruling as "unacceptable".