The status conference was dedicated to remaining outstanding issues in the case, including minor amendments to the indictment, changes in the number of witnesses, the disclosure of testimonies by prosecution witnesses, etc.
Judge O-Gon Kwon has given the prosecution seven days to submit an amended indictment. Prosecutor Ekkehard Withopf said today that he would call 46 witnesses, eight of which will only submit written testimonies.
Halilovic, 53, a former minister in the Bosnian government, is charged with the killing of 62 Croat civilians and one captured member of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), committed in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol between 8 and 16 September 1993 by members of the Bosnian Army which were under his command at the time.
Halilovic is charged on the basis of command responsibility with one count of murder as violation of the laws and customs of war.
The Bosnian Army's chief-of-staff and member of the war-time presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Halilovic in August 1993 was appointed commander of Operation "Neretva 93", which was launched to seize HVO-controlled territory from Bugojno to Mostar.
During the operation, some of the gravest crimes were committed against Croats and under the indictment Halilovic failed to prevent those crimes or punish their perpetrators. On September 8, 1993 thirty-three Croat civilians, including entire families, were killed in Grabovica, while on 15 and 16 September, 29 civilians and one captured HVO soldier were killed in Uzdol.