Following a proposal from the government, in 2007 the academy completed a research of the term and contents of the so-called joint criminal enterprise so that amici curiae, envisaged by the tribunal's rule book, could offer assistance to ICTY trial chambers about that legally disputable term. However, the UN tribunal turned down the government's proposal for amici curiae and on 16 February this year, the Croatian academy forwarded the study papers to the tribunal's President, Patrick Robinson.
The joint criminal enterprise is a legal term in contravention of principles of international criminal law and criminal laws of United Nations member-states that founded the tribunal in The Hague, said the president of the Croatian Academy, Zeljko Horvatic, who is one of the authors of the study.
According to him, the Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences deems the theory about joint criminal enterprises to be unacceptable.
The academy's study papers on the matter are available in Croatian and in English on the academy's web site (www.pravo.hr/azph).