A deadline for the prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to elaborate its thesis on Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina's and Mladen Markac's possible guilt "under the alternative modes of liability" expires on Friday, 10 August.
On 15 April 2011, 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. A third general, General Ivan Cermak was acquitted.
Considering that "additional briefing on the potential for convictions under the alternative modes of liability with respect to Gotovina and Markac would assist in a just resolution of their appeals," the UN tribunal's appeals chamber on 20 July ordered 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 appeals chamber emphasised in its statement of 20 July that the present order in no way expressed its views on any aspect of Gotovina's or Markac's appeals.
The defence teams for the two generals are given a deadline by 31 August to respond to the prosecution's submission on alternative modes of liability.
The appeals chamber is expected to hand down its final judgement by the end of this year.
