The Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office will ask prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to give it the evidence that was used in the case of Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, since the Hague tribunal had precedence under international law, Vukcevic was quoted by Serbian media as saying.

"These cases are being opened now because, under international law, the Hague tribunal has primacy in criminal prosecution, which is why we waited for the final verdict," Vukcevic explained.

He said that the evidence presented at trial, when the Trial Chamber sentenced Gotovina to 24 years and Markac to 18 years in prison, was relevant and could help in shedding light on war crimes committed during Operation Storm that had not been dealt with by the tribunal.

Vukcevic said in a Serbian television programme earlier that a review of the Gotovina and Markac case could be launched if new evidence emerged, citing military documents, so-called artillery logs, which the tribunal had sought but had never been given.

"(ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge) Brammertz asked me earlier about (indicted Bosnian Serb wartime military commander) Ratko Mladic and he asked Croatian Chief Public Prosecutor Mladen Bajic about the artillery logs, but the artillery logs issue was not raised any more," the Serbian war crimes prosecutor said.

"If the artillery logs were found, a review would be possible, but as far as I know the tribunal's rules, it would not be possible to give Gotovina and Markac prison sentences in that case, but the court could only state that there had been a miscarriage of justice," he explained.

Vukcevic said that it was a great omission on the part of the ICTY prosecutors in the Gotovina and Markac case that they had not tried harder to obtain the military documents in question.

Vukcevic said he did not know what the verdict against the two Croatian generals would be like, adding that he had expected that the charge of a joint criminal enterprise would fall through, but that he was convinced that "at least someone would be convicted on the charge of command responsibility."

Vukcevic described cooperation between Serbia and Croatia in prosecuting war crimes so far, as "brilliant". "We are working together in investigating war crimes committed in Dvor na Uni, and so far 97 cases have been exchanged with Croatian judicial authorities, which is a very large number."