Ademi, Norac defense counsels clash

Ademi, Norac defense counsels clash

When addressing evidence the Croatian State Prosecutor’s Office received from The Hague, Norac’s defense had reservations that the first-accused Ademi's attorneys may attempt to shift all responsibility to Norac.

Norac’s defense lawyer Željko Olujić demanded from the prosecution to state its position regarding the pre-trial records from July 2003 that entered into evidence. 

According to him, “Ademi directly laid all the blame at Norac with that document by saying he had never formally received the rank of a commander, nor deputy commander of the army zone around Gospić.”

In the document in question, Ademi alleges that the real command of the Gospić region was placed under the superior officer in Zagreb via his subordinate officer at the head of the 9th motorized brigade of the Crotian Army. 

Since Prosecutor Antun Kvakan explained that the document was incorporated into evidence because it contained defense Norac delivered to Hague investigators that had questioned him during their probe, Olujić interpreted Kvakan’s words as “a confirmation that the document indeed constituted Ademi’s defense in the ongoing trial.”

However, Ademi’s lawyers found fault with Olujić’s construal.

Defense counsels of both generals agreed when it came to opposing the reading of the documentations compiled and submitted by Savo Štrbac, director of the Serbian Documentation and Information Center Veritas.

They labeled Štrbac as an “outspoken enemy of Croatia," accusing him of manipulating false documentation.

The Prosecution went up against a request from Norac’s defense to disclose identity of protected witnesses. Ademi’s defense said that the identities should remain protected, stressing, however, that the defense should be familiar with protected witnesses’ previous statements.

Norac and Ademi have been charged with crimes against civilians and excessive and random targeting of Serb-populated villages in Croatia.

The consolidated indictment names all killed civilians and prisoners of war, and adds that some of them were abused and massacred.

Ademi is organizing his defense out of custody, while Norac is serving his 12-year jail term for executing several dozens of Serb civilians in the region of Gospić in 1991.