The trial chamber in the case suspended its decision granting provisional release to Croatian generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac and ordered that they return to the tribunal's detention unit on February 8 so that they could take part in a status conference in the case the following day. The status conference is to focus on the issue of conflict of interest between their defence teams and on Cermak's noncompliance with conditions of provisional release.
The trial chamber said that the ICTY's Registrar on January 12 warned about departure from conditions of provisional release in Cermak's case and on January 17 asked the parties concerned and the Croatian government to state their position on the matter. However, the Croatian government failed to provide the requested additional information on Cermak's compliance with conditions of provisional release and measures taken to ensure such compliance, the trial chamber said.
Responding to this claim, the Croatian Justice Ministry stated that "the Government of the Republic of Croatia issued a statement on the ICTY's request through the Justice Ministry's Department for Cooperation with International Criminal Courts".
The statement was sent to the ICTY Liaison Office in Zagreb, which forwarded it to the ICTY Registrar, the ministry said.
The ministry also said that receipt of the statement and its forwarding to the ICTY in The Hague had been confirmed by the ICTY Liaison Office, and that it was now investigating why the tribunal was claiming that it had not received the government statement.