The submission answers all questions posed by the Trial Chamber regarding the competence of Croatia's judiciary to take over the case and other legal issues, with a special emphasis on the general principle of the law under which, in case that the ICTY decides to refer the case to the national judiciary, a court in the town the crime is committed is authorise to hold the trial -- namely a Croatian court, the statement said.
The submission says that in the Ademi/Norac case, for which a decision is still to be made, Croatia has explained in detail numerous legal and theoretical issues regarding the referral of ICTY cases to the national legislation.
This February, ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte proposed that the trial of the so-called Vukovar Three, namely three former Yugoslav Army officers charged with the 1991 Ovcara massacre, be referred to the courts in Croatia or Serbia and Montenegro.
General Mile Mrksic, who was the commander of the JNA Guard Brigade during the attack on Vukovar, Captain Miroslav Radic, who commanded a Brigade battalion, and Major Veselin Sljivancanin, are charged on eight counts with crimes against humanity and the violation of the laws and customs of war and the execution of more than 200 Croat prisoners of war at the Ovcara farm, near the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on 20 November 1991. The victims were taken from the Vukovar hospital after the fall of the city.
All three are in the custody of the ICTY in Scheveningen. Mrskic voluntarily surrendered on 15 April 2002, while Radic and Sljivancanin were arrested in Serbia in May and July 2003.
In her proposal Del Ponte primarily stated a possibility that the case be referred to Croatia, because the crimes were committed on its soil. She said she had received assurances from the Croatian authorities that its judiciary was ready and competent to take over the trial and conduct it according to the highest standards.
As the other possibility, Del Ponte stated the referral of the case to Serbia and Montenegro where the accused were arrested or had turned themselves in. The prosecutor said she had established that the judiciary in Serbia and Montenegro was willing and prepared to take over the trial. The case would be processed before the special department for war crimes at the Belgrade District Court where the trial of direct perpetrators of the Ovcara massacre was already being conducted.
An ICTY trial chamber will make a decision on del Ponte's proposal after examining all arguments submitted by the prosecution, the defence and representatives of the governments of Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro.