According to the assessment of the regional team of observers, forwarded to the media on Tuesday, the indictment charges only members of the Territorial Defence and volunteers, even though the investigation and evidence showed criminal liability of some high ranking Yugoslav Army officers who appeared before the court in their capacity as witnesses.
"Despite this serious objection to the indictment, the regional team stresses that the panel of judges handles the case professionally with an objective to establish the truth about individual responsibility of each indicted person and facts which can help the identification of victims, read the document issued by the regional team of observers.
So far it has been established that during the armed conflict in the wider region of Vukovar, the Territorial Defence and the Leva Supoderica unit had been under the command of the Yugoslav People's Army Guard brigade, the document said. It was also established that the commander of the Guard Brigade, Colonel Mile Mrksic handed over Croatian prisoners of war from the Vukovar hospital to the Territorial Defence. The decision had not been withdrawn, prisoners were not safe even though Mrskic was informed that the lives of the prisoners at Ovcara were in danger.
The indictment does not include former Yugoslav People's Army officers even though there are serious indications about their criminal liability, the observers said.