The Trial Chamber requested the Prosecutor's Office to shorten the indictment by at least one third late last year.
In its response, the Prosecutor's office said it refused to shorten the indictment because it was already focused on the most important accusations and because the request encroached upon the prosecution's independence.
Any more shortening would bring into question the prosecution's chance to prove the criminal accountability of the accused before the Trial Chamber, said the response.
If, despite that, the Trial Chamber orders that the indictment be shortened, the Prosecutor's Office will not present evidence for crimes committed in six municipalities and those committed in October and November 1995. In that case, the prosecution said it would retain the right to cite evidence referring to those accusations.
The indictment charges the three generals with crimes against Serbs committed before, during and after Operation Storm from July to November 1995, namely ethnic cleansing conceived as part of a joint criminal enterprise.
The Prosecutor's Office said this case was already limited to one military operation and events which occurred on a limited area in a relatively short period of time, and that further cuts would undermine the prosecution's chances of proving the full scale of the crimes.
The Office said that reducing the number of counts would not expedite the trial as the counts refer to the same crime and represent the legal basis for the responsibility of the accused.
The trial is set to begin on May 7. Last week, defence counsel for the three generals contested the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on a number of grounds, saying the prosecutors were misapplying international law.
Cermak's attorney Jadranka Slokovic told Hina today the prosecution's offer not to enter evidence for crimes committed in six municipalities and for all crimes committed in the last two months covered by the indictment would not constitute a significant shortening of the indictment.
She said the defence had expected the Prosecutor's Office to give up important elements of the indictment, as in the case of Serbian Radical Vojislav Seslj, such as significant locations or alternative accusations for the same crime.