The defence teams representing the accused Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague formally announced by midnight on Monday their appeals against the trial chamber's verdict of April 15, the two generals' lawyers told press on Tuesday.
According to unofficial information, the prosecution did not appeal. Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz's special advisor Frederick Swinnen was unavailable to confirm this.
On April 15, the trial chamber sentenced Gotovina and Markac to 24 and 18 years in prison respectively for their roles in a joint criminal enterprise the aim of which was to forcibly and permanently remove the Serb population from the occupied areas of Croatia during and after Operation Storm. A third general, Ivan Cermak, was acquitted.
Under the ICTY rules, an appeal against a trial chamber ruling may be filed within 75 days of filing a motion announcing the appeal. The other party has 40 days to respond to the announcement, after which both parties have a further 15 days to respond to the respondent's brief. An appeal chamber is then set up and it sets a date for a hearing.
