The President’s Order follows the filing by the Prosecutor late last week of a "Request Under Rule 11bis" requesting the referral of the indictment against Ademi and Norac "to the authorities of Croatia for trial by an appropriate court, namely the County Court of Zagreb, within that State." the tribunal said.
This represented the first time that the Prosecutor filed an application for "Referral of an Indictment to Another Court" under Rule 11bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague reported.
Simultaneously, chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte also filed a Motions in which she applied "to the President for the appointment of a Trial Chamber" to review the Request. The President has now issued the appropriate Order, the ICTY said.
On May 27, the ICTY Prosector's Office issued a joint indictment against Ademi and Norac, who are suspected of committing war crimes in the Medak Pocklet operation in 1993. The Trial Chamber, presided by judge Liu Dagun, confirmed the indictment on July 30.
Ademi voluntarily surrendered to the ICTY on July 25, 2001 and pleaded not guilty. He was provisionally released pending trial in February 2002.
The ICTY indicted Norac, whom a Croatian court sentenced to 12 years for war crimes in Gospic in 1991, on May 20, 2004. He was transferred from a detention unit in Croatia to The Hague on July 8 to enter his plea. He pleaded not guilty to all five counts of the indictment and the Trial Chamber decided to transfer Norac back to the detention unit in Croatia until the beginning of trial in The Hague.