The Appeals Chamber decided on 13 December that the decisions of trial chambers to deny Croatia's requests to appear as amicus curiae did not impact upon Croatia's legal rights, because ICTY regulations do not foresee such rights.
Croatia requested amicus curiae status in the two cases in September, believing that Croatian legal experts and historians - amici curiae - would be able to make submissions to the tribunal and contest unacceptable allegations stated by the ICTY prosecution in the indictments in the cases. According to those indictments, crimes in Croatia and Bosnia were committed as part of "a joint criminal enterprise" in which the then Croatian state and military leaders took part.
The trial chambers in the cases of Prlic and others and Gotovina, Cermak and Markac in October denied Croatia's requests to appear as amicus curiae.
On 25 October, the Croatian government asked the Appeals Chamber to re-examine those decisions and on 1 November the prosecution asked the Appeals Chamber to strike Croatia's request as inadmissible.
In the meantime, the Croatian government said that should the ICTY deny its request, the government would forward all documents to the defence attorneys in the two cases.
Generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac are indicted for crimes committed during and after the 1995 Operation Storm "as part of a joint criminal enterprise", while the political and military leadership of Bosnian Croats is indicted in the case of Prilic and others for crimes committed during the war in Bosnia, also as part of a joint criminal enterprise.