The tribunal's Office of the Prosecutor plans to refer the case to the Croatian judiciary, which is a great challenge to Croatia, so we must be well prepared for it, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said at a government session.
The Office of the Prosecutor has proposed that the Ademi-Norac case be transferred to the Croatian judiciary, and Tribunal President Theodor Meron has appointed a special panel of judges to decide on the transfer, Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt said.
Ademi and Norac are charged with war crimes committed by Croatian army troops in the Medak Pocket Operation in 1993.
Ademi voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal on July 25, 2001 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. In February 2002 he was granted provisional release pending trial.
Norac, who has been sentenced by a Croatian court to 12 years in prison for war crimes committed in the central town of Gospic in 1991, was indicted by the Hague tribunal on May 20 this year. On July 8, he was transferred from the Rijeka County Court detention centre to The Hague to enter a plea.
Norac pleaded not guilty to all five counts of the indictment, and the trial chamber decided that he should remain in custody in Croatia under tribunal jurisdiction until the start of the trial.