Whiting explained that the joined indictment was expected to contain some changes in relation to the amended indictment against Cermak and Markac, which was confirmed on 14 December 2005.
He added that there was a possibility for him to abandon the case because he had to start working on another one, which would move the deadline for the submission of the joinder motion by a week.
Pre-trial judge Kevin Parker said that the joint trial could start already this year.
He explained that the trial chamber had decided that Cermak and Markac did not have to enter their plea to the amended indictment due to the announced joinder of the proceedings and indictments. The two generals should have entered their pleas at today's status conference via video link from Zagreb.
Also discussed at the status conference was the exchange of documents and witness statements between the defence and the prosecution and the establishment of facts that are beyond dispute.
The amended indictment of 14 December charges Cermak and Markac on the basis of individual and command responsibility with persecutions, killings, deportations, inhumane acts, destruction and plunder as crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war committed against Croatian Serbs from the Krajina region in the course and after the 1995 Operation Storm.
The amended indictment against Gotovina, issued on 24 February 2004, charges the general with six counts of violations of international humanitarian law committed in the Krajina region in the same period.
All three are charged with committing the said acts as part of "a joint criminal enterprise".
Counsel for the accused previously said that they would not oppose a joinder of the proceedings as it would be unsuccessful, but after today's status conference they said that they would decide on the matter once they saw a draft joined indictment.