ZAGREB, March 8 (Hina) - Retired Croatian army generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac will leave Zagreb for The Hague aboard a Croatia Airlines plane at 8:30 hours on Thursday and their initial appearance before the UN war crimes
tribunal is scheduled for Friday, when they will enter their pleas to charges of crimes against humanity and breaches of the laws and customs of war during and after the 1995 Operation Storm, Markac's attorney Miroslav Separovic said on Monday.
ZAGREB, March 8 (Hina) - Retired Croatian army generals Ivan Cermak and
Mladen Markac will leave Zagreb for The Hague aboard a Croatia
Airlines plane at 8:30 hours on Thursday and their initial appearance
before the UN war crimes tribunal is scheduled for Friday, when they
will enter their pleas to charges of crimes against humanity and
breaches of the laws and customs of war during and after the 1995
Operation Storm, Markac's attorney Miroslav Separovic said on Monday.#L#
Although they are familiar with the content of the indictment, Cermak
and Markac will be handed the indictment at their first appearance
before the tribunal.
The two generals' attorneys, Separovic and Cedo Prodanovic, will then
request that their clients be released pending trial.
Separovic believes that considering the tribunal's previous practice
it is highly possible that their request will be granted.
"We meet the three basic conditions (for provisional release) - the
indictees have cooperated with the tribunal's prosecution, they are
leaving for The Hague of their own accord, and the government
guarantees that they will respond to all summons," Separovic said.
The defence considers "political and legal assessments" from the
indictment unacceptable because the indictment charges them with
participating, along with the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman,
in a criminal enterprise aimed at forcing the Serb population to leave
their homes permanently.
Separovic said the two generals were charged with the killing of some
150 Serbs in the area between Korenica and the Zadar hinterland, the
burning of houses and other facilities, the plunder and destruction of
property, and the displacement of the Serb population.
"They are charged on command responsibility with ordering the crimes
or having known about them but failing to prevent and punish them,"
Separovic said.
The defence will try to prove that there was no criminal plan or
enterprise and that the accused did not order or commit any crimes,
Separovic said, adding that in the case of Markac, who at the time
commanded special police forces, there was evidence that prisoners of
war had been handed over to uniform or military police.
"Uniform police were in charge of punishing crimes after the
operation, not special police forces," Separovic said, adding that the
defence had collected numerous documents as it had been preparing for
the latest development for some time.
Separovic said he would also present the tribunal with medical
documentation about the condition of his client, who he said suffered
from heart problems.
(Hina) rml