The former leaders of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna - prime minister Prlic, defence minister Bruno Stojic, Croatian Defence Council (HVO) military police chief Valentin Coric, HVO commanders and generals Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj Petkovic, and the head of a commission for prisoner exchange, Berislav Pusic, are charged with 27 counts of crimes against Bosnian Muslims committed in 1993/94.
The accused surrendered voluntarily to the tribunal in April 2004, pleaded not guilty and were released pending trial.
A pre-trial conference is scheduled for April 24.
Today's status conference in the case discussed technical issues related to the start of the trial. Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti said that a day earlier a decision was made to appoint defence counsel for General Slobodan Praljak, who on 13 September 2004, five months after the start of the proceedings, requested that the tribunal pay for his attorney, after which the tribunal's registrar launched an investigation into his financial status.
On 17 June the tribunal turned down Praljak's request, after which he said that he would defend himself on his own. After he provided the registrar with additional explanations regarding his financial status, which were turned down, on 5 January Praljak requested the registrar to reconsider his position and appoint defence counsel.
Judge Antonetti said the trial could last several years because it was the most complex case in the history of the ICTY, with six indictees and a very complex indictment covering a long period of time and a large number of events, with 400 witnesses for the prosecution and almost 10,000 pieces of evidence.