Testifying in the trial of Croatian Army generals Ademi and Mirko Norac, who are charged with war crimes committed in that operation, Markac said that he did not take it well when Bobetko transferred command to Ademi.
Markac said that until the very start of Operation "Medak Pocket", he had not been familiar with the information that instead of Bobetko, Ademi was to command the operation in which special police forces were to descend Mt. Velebit and join the Croatian Army.
He went on to say that this decision came as a surprise also to his deputy Zeljko Sacic and former Assistant Interior Minister Zeljko Tomljenovic, who arrived in Lika to sign an order in line with which special police forces were to take part in the operation.
Unlike Ademi, who commanded special and army units, Markac had no contact with the then Colonel Norac, about whose appointment as commander of a
separate formation called Sector 1 he had learned from his deputy.
Markac added that Norac had not issued a single order to special police units, except one time, when he asked for help for Home Guard units in the village of Strunici through a coordinator.
Norac exclusively contacted Ademi, Markac said, but would not speak about the relationship between the two accused.
In his detailed statement, Markac described the activities of special police forces between 1992, when Interior Minister Ivan Jarnjak ordered that they take up positions on Mt. Velebit, and their joining the Croatian Army units before Operation "Medak Pocket".
Markac said that in battles with "terrorist commando" groups at a height of 1,600 metres above sea-level his units suffered losses because they had not been trained to fight in such conditions. However, special police were different from ordinary soldiers because they each had a police diploma and were trained for different tasks, including those related to the treatment of captives.
Markac said that special police units were familiar with provisions of the Geneva conventions and that they had never done anything that was contrary to them.
At the end of Markac's testimony, which lasted almost four hours, General Ademi accused Markac of lying.
Commenting on the testimony, Ademi said that Markac was lying when he said that he had not attended a meeting with the then Army Chief-of-Staff Janko Bobetko.
"The idea about Operation 'Medak Pocket' came from him," Ademi said about Markac.
Markac responded by saying that he regretted that his friend Ademi believed that he was lying and that he was only saying the truth.
"Ademi stated incorrectly that I had proposed launching that operation," Markac said, adding that as commander of special police forces he had been interested solely in alleviating the position of his units.
I never interfered in military planning, Markac said.