"They corrected the indictment against Markac and Cermak in terms of the joint criminal enterprise by expanding the number of participants by adding the late generals Janko Bobetko and Zvonimir Cervenko," said Markac's attorney Miroslav Separovic.
He said the draft amended indictment included among the participants of the joint criminal enterprise "other individuals from the Croatian government, officers and staff of the armed forces, intelligence and security services, the special and civil police, as well as parts of the HDZ and municipal authorities. That's more than 1,000 people".
The Trial Chamber asked the Prosecution on March 8 to correct the indictment's shortcomings, notably with regard to the participants in the summer 1995 joint criminal enterprise whose alleged purpose was the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Knin Krajina region.
Alongside the accused, the original indictment mentioned as participants in the joint criminal enterprise General Ante Gotovina, ex-President Franjo Tudjman and ex-Defence Minister Gojko Susak, both dead.
Apart from being corrected and amended, Separovic said the Prosecution noted in its draft it had scrapped plans to join the indictment with that against Gotovina until he surrendered to the UN court.
According to Separovic, the defence has still not examined the Prosecution's proposal. He said the "indictment was not only not corrected, but was made even more vague," and announced an appeal within 15 days.
Markac's other attorney, Goran Mikulicic, said the defence would first oppose the Prosecution's proposal for approving the amended indictment and then respond to the indictment.
Mikulicic said the indictment was not amended in terms of facts. "The situations from the first indictment have been attributed differently".
He said redefining the joint criminal enterprise by implicating virtually all state officials in it was absurd. He described the indictment as less appropriate and less comprehensible than before, but at the same time easier to contest.
The Hague tribunal indicted Cermak and Markac on 24 February 2004 for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war committed against Serb civilians in the wider Knin area during and after the summer 1995 Operation Storm. Cermak commanded the Knin military area after Storm, while Markac was the commander of the Interior Ministry special police during the operation.
The two voluntarily surrendered on 11 March 2004 and pleaded not guilty. They were released pending trial on December 3.