The Croatian government first requested to be granted amicus curiae status in the Cermak-Markac-Gotovina case and the "Prlic and others" case last September, maintaining that depositions submitted by legal experts and historians would contest the prosecution's unacceptable allegations. The indictments alleged that crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina had been committed as part of a joint criminal enterprise in which the then state and military leaders of Croatia had taken part.
Trial chambers rejected Croatia's requests in October, accepting the prosecution's arguments that Croatia would have a biased role in both trials, that the areas Croatia wanted to tackle were too broad in respect of the indictments' scope and that they did not pertain to legal issues in the jurisdiction of an amicus curiae.
Croatia subsequently requested the tribunal to re-examine the decisions rejecting its initial requests, but on December 13 the Appeals Chamber turned down this request, concluding that the trial chambers in their decisions to refuse granting Croatia amicus curiae status had not brought Croatia's rights into question, given that the Hague tribunal's rules did not envisage such rights that would enable states to help the tribunal of their own choice.
The government source said today the government had provided the defence teams of the three generals with a conclusion from a 1995 government session about the end of Operation Storm which provides a more precise definition of the operation's duration.
During Croatia's first attempt to be granted amicus curiae status, government officials said that if the tribunal turned the request down, they would submit all the material at the government's disposal to the defence teams.
Gotovina, Cermak and Markac were charged with war crimes committed during and after the 1995 Operation Storm as part of a joint criminal enterprise.