The defence team representing Croatian General Ante Gotovina before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague has filed a motion to introduce new evidence in the appeal, including the minutes of meetings of the Serbian Supreme Defence Council held in Belgrade during a Croatian military offensive known as Operation Storm in the summer of 1995, U.S. diplomatic dispatches released by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, and expert reports by US officers.
"Appellant Ante Gotovina moves to admit 25 additional documents that were not available to the Defence at trial and which could have impacted the Trial Chamber's verdict had they been admitted at trial," says the defence motion, filed on Friday.
Under the ICTY rules, only evidence that was not available at trial may be admitted on appeal.
The additional evidence pertains to the departure of Serb civilians before, during and after Operation Storm, the nature of Croatian Army artillery attacks during the offensive and Gotovina's authority to make public statements.
The public version of the motion shows that nine of the exhibits are confidential because they are redacted.
On April 15, General Gotovina and General Mladen Markac were sentenced to 24 years and 18 years in prison respectively for war crimes committed by Croatian forces against Serb civilians in occupied areas of Croatia during and after Operation Storm. The two generals' defence teams appealed on August 1.
The trial chamber said in its judgement that the Serbs were forced to leave as a result of indiscriminate shelling by Croatian forces, disregarding the evidence submitted by the defence showing that the Serb authorities urged the Serb population to leave and that artillery attacks were directed at military targets.
