The defence called on the tribunal to establish that there was no potential conflict of interest for Separovic.
"The position of the defence attorney (Separovic) is that there is no conflict of interest regarding his role as defence counsel for the accused Mladen Markac. The defence attorney therefore has no intention of withdrawing from the case, but wishes to remain in the case so that he represent the interests of the accused in the best possible way," defence attorneys Miroslav Separovic and Goran Mikulicic said in their motion.
Last Friday the ICTY held a pre-trial hearing to discuss the issue of potential conflict of interest of defence attorney Separovic, with the trial chamber calling on Separovic to withdraw from the case.
The issue was raised last autumn by defence counsel for Croatian Army General Ante Gotovina, who opposed the joinder of their case with that of Markac and General Ivan Cermak. Gotovina's defence team then indicated the possibility of calling Separovic as a witness because at the time relevant to the indictment against their client Separovic had served as Croatian minister of justice.
Markac's defence counsel said in the motion that Separovic could not be a necessary witness and that his withdrawal would cause irreparable damage to their client's defence.