Norac's attorney Zeljko Olujic asked the prosecution to state its position on a so-called pre-trial statement from July 2003, which is part of the court file. Olujic claims that in the statement, although he did not state any names, Ademi actually accused Norac, which a year later resulted in the Hague tribunal issuing an indictment against Norac.
Olujic therefore requested that the prosecution state if it accepted Ademi's statement as his defence.
As can be seen from the indictment, Ademi claims in the statement that he had never been officially appointed commander or deputy commander of the Gospic Military District. "The actual command responsibility for events which occurred at the start, during and after Operation Pocket 93 lay with a superior officer in Zagreb through the officer who was subordinated to him and who headed Sector 1, namely the Ninth Guard Motorised Brigade and its units in the area of the Medak Pocket," reads the controversial statement.
"General Ademi's pre-trial statement from 2003 is not a separate piece of evidence and was included in the file because it also includes elements of defence presented at the time to ICTY investigators by General Norac, who at the time was already a suspect," prosecutor Antun Kvakan said.
Attorney Olujic told the press he was satisfied with Kvakan's explanation.
"I am satisfied with the state prosecutor's answer because he said that in a way (the statement) served as defence for the accused Ademi," Olujic said.
Ademi's attorney Cedo Prodanovic said that the statement did not serve as Ademi's defence, but as an analysis of events. He dismissed as insinuation Olujic's claims that the Hague tribunal had indicted Norac on the basis of Ademi's statement.
Prodanovic's colleague Jadranka Slokovic added, however, that their defence team, which clashed with the defence team of General Ante Gotovina in The Hague, seemed not to have luck with rivals.
"Tension is being fomented without any reason," she said, adding that Olujic wanted to change the public perception of General Ademi.
Both defence teams opposed the reading of documents compiled by a former member of the Croatian Serb rebel government, Savo Strbac, saying that he was a declared enemy of Croatia and manipulated false documents.
Norac's defence requested revealing the identity of protected witnesses, saying that they did not understand how those witnesses could be threatened, as well as obtaining from the Defence Ministry all orders related to the Medak Pocket, instead of the three that were included in the file. The team also asked for an expert examination of all documents on the victims and information on arms and ammunition used in the area by members of the Croatian army, police, as well as by UNPROFOR.
At the end of today's hearing the prosecution opposed the request of Norac's defence that the identity of protected witnesses be revealed.
General Ademi's defence team too opposed the request, but added that the defence should be acquainted with previous witness statements to avoid being put in a subordinate position.
The prosecution agreed with the defence's motion that all orders related to the said operation and documents on arms and ammunition used in the area by members of the Croatian army, police, as well as by UNPROFOR be obtained from the Defence Ministry, and that the cause of death of all victims be examined by experts.
Also accepted was a motion by Norac's defence team to obtain documents on orders issued to special police forces in the operation, because they claim that Norac had nothing with those units.
All evidence-related motions will be decided on Wednesday by the panel of judges presided by Judge Marin Mrcela.
Generals Norac and Ademi are charged according to command responsibility with crimes against civilians and the excessive and random shelling of Serb villages, which resulted in the killing of civilians. The indictment states by name all civilian victims and captured soldiers who were killed, after some of them had been subjected to cruel torture and were massacred.
At the time of Operation Medak Pocket in September 1993, Ademi was acting commander of the Gospic Military District, while Norac was commander of the Ninth Guard Motorised Brigade and of Sector 1.