The two men were initially charged with responsibility for the transfer of 250 Croats from the Vukovar hospital to the Ovcara farm, their torture, execution and burial in a mass grave on 20 November 1991. The charges were withdrawn from the second amended indictment that was made public on Thursday.
The indictment was expanded to include responsibility for war crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, including executions of Muslim civilians in July 1995 by the Serb paramilitary unit "The Scorpions".
The Hague-based tribunal held a status conference in the case on Thursday, announcing that the two accused, who are on provisional release pending trial, could plead to the amended indictment via a video link.
Stanisic and Simatovic are charged with involvement in a joint criminal enterprise the purpose of which was "the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs, principally Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina" in order to create a new, Serb-dominated state.