The prosecution claims that Perisic is responsible for crimes committed by Bosnian and Croatian Serb forces because he controlled them through Yugoslav Army commanders that were transferred to their ranks, as well as that he provided them with weapons and logistical and other support in ethnic cleansing campaigns in Bosnia and Croatia. The prosecution believes that consequently, the Yugoslav Army and Bosnian and Croatian Serb forces acted together as one armed force.

Perisic's defence said today that their client had no control over any officer deployed by personnel departments that he set up himself, in the armies of Bosnian and Croatian Serbs, from the moment when they joined those forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and occupied parts of Croatia.

The defence team therefore called on the trial chamber to dismiss the prosecution's main allegation that the commanders and most important officers of the Bosnian and Croatian Serb armies were actually members of the Yugoslav Army and that Perisic had effective control over them.

No one had control over Mladic, he did what he wanted and when he wanted, Perisic's defence said, downplaying the importance of the fact that Mladic was almost simultaneously promoted both in the Yugoslav Army and the Army of Republika Srpska.

Perisic's defence said the fact that Yugoslav Army officers deployed in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to receive salaries and enjoy all other rights in the Yugoslav Army was not proof that Perisic had control over them.

The prosecution on Tuesday requested life imprisonment for Perisic.