The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals based in Hague will pronounce a final judgment against Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović today.
Today, Stanišić and Simatović await the verdict at the last ICTY trial in the Hague
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals based in Hague will pronounce a final judgment against Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović today.
Source: Tanjug
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The former heads of the Department of State Security of Serbia are accused of aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes in Bosanski Šamac.
In June 2021, Stanišić and Simatović were sentenced to 12 years in prison by the first-instance verdict.
This case was brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the ICTY Appeals Chamber ordered a completely new trial. The case was continued under the jurisdiction of the Residual Mechanism, which issued first-instance verdicts on August 6, 2021.
Graciela Gatti Santana, president of the Mechanism, was the presiding judge in the appeals panel. Appeals against the verdict were lodged with the Mechanism prosecutor's office and the defense.
Simatović and Stanišić were found guilty on all five counts of the indictment as abettors, but not as participants in the Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE).
In June 2021, the court handed down the second first-instance verdict, which was handed down to them after a repeated trial, because the first one, by which they were acquitted of all charges, was canceled following the prosecutor's appeal in 2015.
They were convicted because, according to the opinion of the first-instance court panel, they knew that the participants in the JCE shared the intention to forcefully and permanently remove the majority of the non-Serb population from large areas in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina by committing the crimes listed in the indictment.
Stanišić and Simatović are charged with four counts of crimes against humanity: persecution, murder, deportation and inhumane acts, and one count for violations of laws or customs of war - murder.
The retrial before the Mechanism ended on June 30, 2021, after which the written first-instance verdict was delivered on August 6 of the same year, and the appeals hearing on January 24 and 25, 2023 marked the end of the pre-appeal phase of this case, which began in September 2021.
This case represents the last case of the ICTY for key crimes.
Jovica Stanisić was the head of the State Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, and Franko Simatović was his deputy.
It is a pity (from the Serbian perspective) that people didn’t know to conform to international law and the general rules of decency.
Who knows, if Milosevic had been a better diplomat and if people hadn’t behaved like thugs, then the world might have even sided with Serbia instead of beating it and labelling it a pariah!
(Bob, 2 June 2023 13:47)
It is a pity (from the Serbian perspective) that people didn’t know to conform to international law and the general rules of decency.
Who knows, if Milosevic had been a better diplomat and if people hadn’t behaved like thugs, then the world might have even sided with Serbia instead of beating it and labelling it a pariah!
(Bob, 2 June 2023 13:47)
It is a pity (from the Serbian perspective) that people didn’t know to conform to international law and the general rules of decency.
Who knows, if Milosevic had been a better diplomat and if people hadn’t behaved like thugs, then the world might have even sided with Serbia instead of beating it and labelling it a pariah!
(Bob, 2 June 2023 13:47)
