In its submission, dated 10 November, the prosecution additionally explained at the request of the trial chamber the level of responsibility and the gravity of the crimes which generals Ademi and Norac are charged with.
The prosecution stated that this was an important case involving important persons and referring to grave criminal acts, which was suitable for trial before the ICTY, but also for transfer in the specific context of the tribunal's exit strategy and instructions from the UN Security Council.
It is also stated that Ademi and Norac were part of the upper half of the Croatian army's command structure and that they commanded significant forces.
Ademi is compared to generals Radislav Krstic, Tihomir Blaskic and Stanislav Galic, who were already convicted by the ICTY, while Norac is compared to indictees Mario Cerkez, Vidoje Blagojevic and Mladen Naletilic aka Tuta.
As regards the gravity of the crimes, the prosecution describes the 1993 Croatian army's operation in Medak Pocket and states that the total number of victims on the Serb side was 82, while the accused are charged with the killing of 29 Serbs. It states that forces commanded by Ademi and Norac burned and blew up some 300 houses and barns in five villages and hamlets in Medak Pocket, making them unsuitable for living.
With regard to the level of responsibility and the role of the accused in the crimes, charges are more severe in the case of Norac than in the case of his superior Ademi.
The prosecution cites a witness as saying that Norac ordered one of the units to blow up all houses and another witness as saying that Norac had given them unlimited amounts of explosive and told them to destroy everything and kill anything that moved.
It is also stated that Norac himself, when receiving commendations from the head of the Croatian Army's (HV) General Staff, the late general Janko Bobetko, after the operation, stated that he was fully responsible for the events that had happened in the course of the operation.
Ademi's attorney Cedo Prodanovic said in his submission of 16 November that his client was not the highest-ranking commander of HV troops in Medak Pocket during the operation that took place between 9 and 17 September 1993, nor did he have under his command all participating army and police units.
As an ethnic Albanian, he did not enjoy the trust of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union and the military leadership, so he was entrusted with tasks that required his military expertise, but he was never appointed to the most responsible command posts which were filled according to political criteria, Prodanovic said.
During the operation, there were several military persons of higher ranking and authority than Ademi in Medak Pocket, so that he could not have the de facto control over all forces, the attorney said.
He stressed that decisions about the operation were made by the head of the General Staff, and that Ademi was entrusted only with the de jure execution of orders, while the direct implementation of the operation was entrusted to the military staff which was only formally subordinated to Ademi, without his having effective control.
It is also stated that Ademi issued an order for withdrawal, which prompted revolted Croatian soldiers to fire shots at the building housing the Gospic military district.
Ademi, who was indicted in July 2001, surrendered voluntarily to the ICTY and in February 2002 was granted provisional release. Norac is in Croatia serving a 12-year sentence for war crimes committed in Gospic in 1991 and the ICTY indicted him in April this year.
The submission of Norac's attorney Zeljko Olujic was not publicised by the tribunal by November 18.