Although they sent arguments against the draft amendments to the indictment, the lawyers said they expected the tribunal to confirm the draft amendments.
On 8 March the Trial Chamber ordered the prosecution to elaborate ambiguities in the indictment, which were pointed out by the defence. On 9 May, the Prosecutor's Office submitted a draft of the amended indictment with the request for that proposal.
"As the prosecution stepped out of the framework of the (8 March) order and it amended the indictment instead of explaining it, the tribunal sustained the position we expressed last week that an approval for such a move should be asked in advance," General Markac's lawyer, Goran Mikulicic told Hina on Friday.
Mikulicic said that in its reply the defence had focused on issues important for the procedure rather than on "senseless incrimination" which the team would tackle in the next stage.
One of procedural omissions is the fact that the deadline for the prosecutors to forward explanations was extended so as to enable them to join the Markac-Cermak indictment with the indictment the tribunal issued against General Ante Gotovina. The prosecutors failed to do this without giving any explanation, Mikulicic said.
In the procedure which is to be carried out, the tribunal will consider whether the indictment meets formal conditions so as to be confirmed, for instance whether the cited subject matter, indictees and alleged crimes are within the jurisdiction of the tribunal, the lawyer said adding that no doubt the tribunal would confirm the amended indictment.
After that the defence teams will be given 30 days to submit objections to the amended indictments.
The reply also includes some positions of the defence teams on allegations from the amended indictment which the tribunal's trial chamber will not now consider, but the lawyers find it useful to express them.
Jadranka Slokovic, a lawyer for General Ivan Cermak, told Hina on the phone that the defence teams of the two generals pointed out the contradictory statements of the Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte that the 1995 Operation Storm was not a criminal enterprise and allegations from the draft indictment which incriminate the military and police operation.
The prosecutors' treatment of Operation Storm was contrary to the UN resolution on the formerly occupied areas of Croatia.
"The first indictment reads that the objective of Operation Storm was the liberation of the occupied areas, while the draft (of the amended indictment) fails to mention it," Slokovic said.
Following the Trial Chamber's March 8 order to elaborate the indictment, notably with regard to the identification of participants in a joint criminal enterprise during 1995's Operation Storm, the Prosecution's draft amended indictment included among the participants of said enterprise virtually the entire 1995 state and military leadership in Croatia, as well as party and local officials. This draft elicited strong disapproval in the Croatian public.
Croatia will enter legal dialogue with the Hague war crimes tribunal's Prosecution about the unacceptable legal and political connotations of the draft amended indictment against generals Cermak and Markac, Assistant Justice Minister Jaksa Muljacic said recently. The government has also announced a possibility of its engagement in the procedure through the institution of amici curiae.
Lawyer Mikulicic said that he agreed with del Ponte's statement that politics should be kept away from the indictment but stressed that she was the one who "introduced politics into the indictment" which then required a political response, he added.
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.