The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the case of two Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac has ordered the prosecution to elaborate its thesis on the generals' possible guilt "under the alternative modes of liability".
Considering that "additional briefing on the potential for convictions under the alternate modes of liability with respect to Gotovina and Markac would assist in a just resolution of their appeals," the UN tribunal's appeals chamber orders the prosecution to file by 10 August submissions in which it can explain whether it believes that the two generals might be held responsible on the basis of superior responsibility or as aiders and abettors in the event that they are not found liable for unlawful artillery attacks or are not be found to be members of a joint criminal enterprise.
"The additional briefing should focus on whether any remaining findings of the Trial Chamber satisfy the legal elements of these alternative modes of liability," reads the order, issued on Friday.
The chamber emphasises that " the present order in no way expresses the Appeals Chamber's views on any aspect of Gotovina's or Markac's appeals".
The ICTY trial chamber sentenced Gotovina to 24 years and Markac to 18 years in prison for war crimes which Croatian forces committed when liberating central and southern Croatia from rebel Serbs in August 1995.
