"The Prosecutor's Office has already formally announced the joinder of the trial. Given that the cases refer to one event, the same facts and the same witnesses, it is expected the tribunal will approve this," Cermak's attorney Cedo Prodanovic told Hina on the phone.
He said the joinder would change nothing for general Cermak and that his defence would remain unchanged regardless of other co-defendants.
Prodanovic said the start of the Cermak-Markac trial had not been set and that it was difficult to estimate the duration of the delay due to the possible joinder with the Gotovina case. He estimated the pre-trial proceedings with Gotovina would last a minimum five to six months, while Markac's attorney Goran Mikulicic, who also expects the UN court to approve the joinder for economy reasons, estimated the trial might start in the autumn of 2006 due to the procedure following Gotovina's arrival in The Hague.
Gotovina, arrested in Spain last night, will first be handed the indictment, he will then enter a plea, after which the prosecutors will be given a deadline to submit material supporting the indictment. Upon receiving said material, the defence is given a deadline to object to the indictment.
Mikulicic said the deadlines for all three defence teams would run parallel given that soon, prosecutors were expected to submit an amended indictment against Cermak and Markac for approval.
He said the defence would object to the proposed joinder of the two cases but added it was illusory to expect the objection to be approved.
Gotovina was indicted in June 2001, Cermak and Markac in February 2004, for war crimes allegedly committed against Serb civilians in the wider Knin area during and after Operation Storm, from August and November 1995.
Gotovina was on the run since being indicted, while Cermak and Markac surrendered voluntarily in March 2004. In their first court appearance, they dismissed all accusations against them. In December 2004, they were released pending trial.