This is a lengthy judgement, we must study and analyse it to see whether we will submit an appeal, Swinnen told Hina on Friday afternoon.
Under the rules of the UN tribunal, parties to proceedings have 30 days to announce their plan to appeal, and an additional 75 days to compile appellate motions.
Our position is clear and we outlined it during the trial. We now have 30 days to consider the possibility of appealing, he added.
The ICTY on Friday sentenced Gotovina to 24 years in prison and Markac to 18 years for participation in a joint criminal enterprise the aim of which was to forcibly and permanently remove the Serb population from occupied areas of Croatia during and after Operation Storm, launched on August 4, 1995. The trial chamber found the two men guilty of all but one counts in the nine-count indictment.
The third accused general, Ivan Cermak, was acquitted of all counts.
In their closing arguments in August 2010, the prosecution asked that the generals be found guilty and that Gotovina be sentenced to 27 years in prison, Markac to 23 years and Cermak to 17 years, while their defence counsel asked that they be acquitted because the prosecution failed to prove their responsibility on any count of the indictment.