Several Croatian veterans have entered the ninth day of hunger strike in protests to the guilty verdicts for Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac.

The veterans have been on Zagreb’s central Trg Bana Jelacica square for nine days now, protesting against The Hague’s verdict that sentenced generals Gotovina and Markac to 24 and 18 years in jail for war crimes committed during Operation Strom that reclaimed parts of Serb-occupied Croatian territory in 1995.

"It is critical. From lack of vitamins we have small wounds on our lips, our muscles cramp, and slowly we’ve started to hallucinate," one of the veterans, the 38-year-old Silvijo Toth told the Croatian daily 24 Sata. Another veteran Zvonko "the Tiger" Lovrencic spent the night in intensive care.

The protesters are surviving on vitamin supplements, water and cigarettes, the daily writes. Four veterans of Croatia's war of independence from former Yugoslavia started the protests nine days ago, slowly being joined by more supporters. They are expecting the arrival of another group of eight today (Wed).

The 41-year-old Ivan Velicki says that he is most disappointed with the fact that no one from the Croatian Ministry of Defence (MORH) has come to visit them.

Despite the dangers to their health, the veterans are not planning on giving up.

"It is the least we can do," said Velicki.