According to Puhovski, the explanation of today's judgement leads to the conclusion that the crime happened on Brijuni, and that Cermak was acquitted because he did not attend the meeting with the Croatian state and military leadership on that island, held ahead of Operation Storm.
Puhovski recalls that the fact that General Gotovina had left for Bosnia and Herzegovina 24 hours after Operation Storm was disregarded.
For him it is worrisome that the tribunal claims that authority was abused at all levels, starting from President Franjo Tudjman to General Markac, and that the shelling was overestimated as the main reason why the local population fled.
The head of the Croatian Victimology Society, Zvonimir Separovic, who was a Croatian foreign minister, said that huge injustice was inflicted by the tribunal's judgement on generals Gotovina and Markac.
Separovic said that the allegation of a joint criminal enterprise was a legally untenable theory.
He expressed hope that the final verdicts after the appellate proceedings would be acquittals.
Zeljko Horvatic, president of the Croatian academy of legal sciences, told Hina that the non-final verdict against Gotovina and Markac were unacceptable for the Croatian state and citizens.
Former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic was not available for comment as he was outside Croatia.
His office said that Mesic would not comment on the non-final verdict.