Croatia filed a reply to Serbia's genocide countersuit with the Hague-based International Court of Justice on 20 December, the spokesman for the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mario Dragun, has confirmed.
Croatia is represented by Mirjan Damaska, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, according to the ministry.
Apart from Damaska, Croatia's legal team includes Maja Sersic, a professor at the law school at Zagreb University, and Andrea Metelko Zgombic, the chief legal aide to the Croatian foreign ministry.
According to unofficial reports, Croatia filed the 2,000-page document whose content is confidential until the ICJ opens a debate on the matter.
The Serbian media have quoted Serbia's legal representative Sasa Obradovic as saying that Belgrade is expected to send its rejoinder to Croatia's reply by 4 November 2011.
In its 1999 suit, Croatia sued the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which comprised Serbia and Montenegro, for breaches of the 1948 genocide convention committed in Croatia between 1991 and 1995, that is during the Homeland Defence War.
The ICJ ruled on 18 November 2008 that Croatia's suit fell within its jurisdiction.
On 4 January 2010, Serbia's legal representatives filed the Counter-Memorial against Croatia at the ICJ in The Hague. The document contains information on crimes allegedly committed in Gospic, Sisak, Pakracka Poljana, Karlovac, Osijek, Paulin Dvor, Medak, Maslenica and operations codenamed Flash and Storm.
