Prosecution Rejects Gotovina Indictment Cuts Request

Judges in the trial of Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak asked on December 13 that prosecutors “propose means of reducing the scope of the indictment by at least one third” by fixing the crimes scenes and/or reducing the counts.



The three generals are charged with crimes committed during and after Operation Storm - a Croatian military offensive to expel Serbs from part of southern Croatia in the second half of 1995.



The judges’ say their request is an attempt to “ensure a fair and expeditious trial”.



But this week, prosecutors turned down the request, saying, “The indictment is already focused on the most important criminal charges” and arguing that it “infringes on the Prosecutor’s independence”.



In their response of January 22, the prosecution added that “reducing the case further would harm the prosecutor’s ability to try the accused for a full range of criminal conduct”.



But if ordered to by judges, they said they would reduce the number of municipalities covered in the indictment from 20 to 14, removing Kijevo, Lovinac, Polaca, Smilcic, Titevo Korenica, and Ubdina.



They also proposed reducing the period covered by removing allegations relating to October and November 1995.



The prosecution made its proposal on the understanding that it can still present certain evidence related to the parts of the indictment dropped - related to its attempt to prove “pattern, intent or knowledge”.



The trial will begin on May 7.



Caroline Tosh is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.