Petkovic is one of six former Bosnian Croat military and civilian leaders accused of war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-95 war.

Commenting on the prosecution's argument, put forward at the end of the trial, that Croatia had been an occupying force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Petkovic's attorney Vesna Alaburic said that in legal practice combat areas could not be considered as occupied, and that the prosecutors were arguing that there had been simultaneous states of armed conflict and occupation.

Alaburic said that Bosnian Croats could not have been an occupying force in their own country and that, consequently, the Herceg Bosna could not have been an occupying force in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There are no documents showing that Croatia had occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, no witness on the stand said anything to that effect, and there is no evidence that Croatia's authorities had effective control over Herceg Bosna, said Alaburic.

Leaders of the former self-styled Croat Community of Herceg Bosna - Prime Minister Jadranko Prlic, Defence Minister Bruno Stojic, Bosnian Croat Defence Council (HVO) generals Slobodan Praljak and Petkovic, the commander of the HVO military police, Valentin Coric, and the head of the commission for the exchange of prisoners of war, Berislav Pusic - are accused of crimes committed in a joint criminal enterprise, led by former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, in order to ethnically cleanse Herceg Bosna, which they wanted to annex to Croatia.

The prosecutors asked that they be found guilty and given prison sentences ranging from 25 to 40 years.