Appeals chamber judge Theodor Meron in the Gotovina-Markac case at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has set a status conference for 12 September when a deadline expires for the prosecution to respond to appeals of the defence teams of the Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, who were earlier this year sentenced to 24 and 18 years respectively for war crimes during and after Operation Storm in August 1995 when Croatia liberated areas held by Serb rebels.
The status conference will focus on further steps in the appellate proceedings.
On 1 August, the defence teams of both generals submitted appeals against the judgement of the ICTY trial chamber. After that a 40-day deadline began running for the prosecution's answer.
The defence team for Gotovina said in its appeal that the trial chamber erred in fact and law when it concluded that Croatian forces unlawfully attacked Serb civilians and civilian objects during Operation Storm in the summer of 1995, calling for a reversal of his conviction on all counts.
"The Trial Chamber's findings are so gravely unreasonable that the Judgement must be overturned and his conviction for JCE (joint criminal enterprise) liability set aside," the defence said in a 143-page brief.
General Gotovina issued orders and took actions as part of Operation Storm to recover occupied Croatian territory and in the context of Operation Storm he ordered the use of artillery against military targets along the front lines and against military targets in the Croatian towns of Knin, Benkovac, Obrovac and Gracac and the Bosnian town of Drvar, according to the brief.
The defence team for Markac said in their appeal brief, that the ICTY trial chamber erroneously concluded, based on its misinterpretation of a transcript of the Brijuni meeting as the only evidence, that before Operation Storm a joint criminal enterprise had been agreed with the aim of permanently removing the Serb population through the commission of crimes and that General Markac had participated in and made a significant contribution to such enterprise,
The status conference in The Hague may also consider a request by defence lawyers sent to Belgrade asking Serbia to provide them with copies of records of meetings of its Supreme Defence Council (VSO) which show that the cause of the massive departure of Serbs from the Krajina region was not Croatian artillery attacks on civilians, as found by the trial chamber, but a decision by the local Serb leadership. Transcripts of VSO meetings appeared at the ICTY trial of former Yugoslav Army Chief of Staff General Momcilo Perisic, charged with war crimes in Bosnia and with the shelling of Zagreb, and were made public after the presentation of evidence in the Gotovina, Markac and Cermak case. That's why the defence could request their admission as evidence at the appellate stage of the case.
