The pre-trial chamber decided that General Mladen Markac would be granted provisional release on Saturday morning. The trial of the three generals is scheduled to start on May 7.
The long debate on whether defence attorneys Miroslav Separovic, Cedo Prodanovic and Jadranka Slokovic were in conflict of interest, initially held behind closed doors, showed that representatives of the Hague Association for Defence Counsel (ADC) believe that the three lawyers are in conflict of interest, but also that no ADC body could do anything about it without an official report, for example by an ADC member.
Lawyer Separovic, around whom most of the debate revolved, said that Markac would suffer irreparable damage if he gave up his defence.
Judge Justice Moloto, chairman of the pre-trial chamber which is to decide
if the attorney can remain involved in the case, said that the chamber could not act until conflict of interest was actually committed, nor state its position on the possible conflict of interest if an official request to that effect was not submitted.
The prosecution disagreed, with prosecutor Alan Tieger saying that court practice showed that the chamber could act when "conflict of interest is foreseeable".
The issue of possible conflict of interest was raised last autumn, when General Ante Gotovina's defence team, opposing a joinder of his case with that of Cermak and Markac, cited as the reason possible conflict of interest on the part of attorney Separovic, because it had opened the possibility of calling him to the witness stand considering the fact that he was Justice Minister at the time relevant to the indictment against General Gotovina.
Gotovina's lawyers also opened the possibility of General Rahim Ademi, another client of the Prodanovic-Slokovic defence team representing General Cermak, appearing as witness in the trial, which would constitute conflict of interest on the part of Prodanovic and Slokovic.
Some judges of the pre-trial chamber said that Separovic should withdraw from the case of his own accord.
Attorney Prodanovic said that he had submitted statements by Generals Cermak and Ademi who believed that their attorneys were not in conflict of interest and wanted them to continue representing them.
After it questioned General Cermak in detail about the circumstances in which photos showing him attending a birthday party, a New Year party and a ski race in Zagreb were taken, the pre-trial chamber decided to postpone its decision on whether to grant Cermak provisional release a second time and kept him in custody.
Cermak apologised for his mistake, saying that his relationship to the Hague tribunal over the last eight years reflected his full respect for that institution and that he was not aware that his movement was limited to his home and office.
The trial chamber said it would consider the matter next week.
It also ordered the prosecution to shorten the indictment in the case "Gotovina, Markac and Cermak" in line with a previous announcement by the prosecution that if instructed to do so, it would drop charges for crimes committed in the last two months relevant to the indictment and crimes committed in six municipalities.
Today's hearing was the first to be attended by all three generals. Before members of the trial chamber entered the courtroom, the generals were talking to each other and their lawyers, and after the hearing started, carefully followed it.
Both the prosecution and defence counsel informed the judges that they did not have enough time to reach agreement on established facts due to other obligations imposed by the start of the trial, scheduled for May.
The facts in question then need not be proven in court, but the presiding judge said anyway that for the time being this piece of information would not postpone the start of the trial.
At the start of the hearing, Gotovina and Cermak said they did not have any health problems, while Markac said that the trial chamber had been informed that his condition was not good and that he was under medical supervision.