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The last judgement by IRMCT’s Appeals Chamber establishes the participation of Serbia in the ex-YU wars

The Appeals Chamber has established that Stanišić and Simatović, together with other military, political and police leadership from Serbia, the so-called SAO Krajina, SAO Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem, as well as from the Republic of Srpska, constituted part of the joint criminal enterprise aimed at permanent expulsion of non-Serb population from the territories under the control of the Serb forces in BiH and Croatia

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The Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) passed a judgment on the case against two former leaders of the State Security Service (SDB) of the Republic of Serbia’s Ministry of the Interior – Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović – establishing an international armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“This judgment has finally and unequivocally established the participation of the Republic of Serbia in the armed conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The highest officials of the RS SDB were convicted as members of the joint criminal enterprise for the crimes perpetrated by the Serbian Volunteers’ Guard (SDG), Special Action Unit, Special Operations Unit (JSO) – the Red Berets, Martić’s Police and Scorpions in 1992 in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bijeljina, Zvornik, Bosanski Šamac, Doboj and Sanski Most, and for the crimes perpetrated in 1995 in Trnovo and Sanski Most, as well as for the murder of Marija Senaši, perpetrated in Dalj Planina, Croatia, in June 1992,” notes the Humanitarian Law Center.

The Appeals Chamber has established that Stanišić and Simatović, together with other military, political and police leadership from Serbia, the so-called SAO Krajina, SAO Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem, as well as from the Republic of Srpska, constituted part of the joint criminal enterprise aimed at permanent expulsion of non-Serb population from the territories under the control of the Serb forces in BiH and Croatia, i.e. – ethnic cleansing.

“The judgments on this case have established numerous facts on abuse, detention, expulsion, murders and other crimes against the members of non-Serb population in Croatia and BiH. The responsibility of JNA members has been established too, as well as that of special police forces, amongst whom also the Serbian Volunteers’ Guard commanded by Željko Ražnatović Arkan. The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia must take into consideration the facts about the role of these units in the war crimes and prosecute the responsible ones. A video of JSO’s anniversary in Kula, from 1997, is the crucial evidence of the participants in the joint criminal enterprise commanded by Stanišić and Simatović. It should be noted that, besides the Scorpions members, who were prosecuted for murders of men and boys from Srebrenica in Trnovo in July 1995, not a single member of units controlled by the SDB has been prosecuted before the Republic of Serbia’s judicial authorities, although their crimes were described in detail in the ICTY’s and IRMCT’s judgments on the case of Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović,” the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) comments.

Bearing in mind the functions performed by Stanišić and Simatović at the national authorities of the Republic of Serbia, the scope and significance of their participation in the crimes, as well as in the victims’ suffering and seriousness of crimes they are accountable for – HLC deems the judgment of the IRMCT’s Appeals Chamber sentencing them to 15 years’ imprisonment unproportionally light.

The enforceable judgment for Stanišić and Simatović is also the last ICTY’s and IRMCT’s judgment for the war crimes perpetrated during the armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia.

Stanišić and Simatović were arrested in Serbia on 13 March 2003.

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