Milošević henchmen return to Hague

Jovica Stanisic and former Special Operations Unit (JSO) commander Franko Simatovic have returned to custody in the Hague. In accordance with the Court’s ruling last week to remand the defendants in custody, former state security chief Stanisic and Simatovic have returned to Scheveningen Prison, the Tribunal confirmed today. Milosevic henchmen return to Hague The two men had been in The Hague between late May 2003 and December 2004, before the Appeals Chamber turned down a prosecution motion, and upheld a ruling for the defendants to be released on bail until the beginning of their trials. A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for February 27, and the trial will, according to reports, “begin soon after that.” Stanisic and Simatovic stand accused of command responsibility for crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina between summer 1991 and late 1995 by so-called “special Serbian State Security (DB) units.” These refer to all secret units and paramilitary formations that were created “with the help of the Serbian DB, with the purpose of carrying out special military operations in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.” Alongside the Red Berets, the JSO and the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ), the prosecution has also included Arkan’s Tigers, “Martic’s police” and police units in the so-called Serb Autonomous Provinces of Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem. In early 2006, the indictment was extended to encompass the crimes committed by a paramilitary unit known as the Scorpions near Srebrenica in July 1995. According to the charges, the accused “directed, organized, equipped, trained, armed and partly financed” all units which, together with the former JNA, the Serb Army of Krajina and the Republic of Srpska (RS) Army, as well as paramilitary formations in Serbia, Krajina and the RS, had attacked towns and villages in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, committing numerous atrocities. The five counts within the indictment qualify these acts as crimes against humanity, and violations of the law and the customs of war. Franko Simatovic (FoNet, archive)

Milošević henchmen return to Hague

The two men had been in The Hague between late May 2003 and December 2004, before the Appeals Chamber turned down a prosecution motion, and upheld a ruling for the defendants to be released on bail until the beginning of their trials.

A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for February 27, and the trial will, according to reports, “begin soon after that.”

Stanišić and Simatović stand accused of command responsibility for crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina between summer 1991 and late 1995 by so-called “special Serbian State Security (DB) units.”

These refer to all secret units and paramilitary formations that were created “with the help of the Serbian DB, with the purpose of carrying out special military operations in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.”

Alongside the Red Berets, the JSO and the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ), the prosecution has also included Arkan’s Tigers, “Martić’s police” and police units in the so-called Serb Autonomous Provinces of Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem.

In early 2006, the indictment was extended to encompass the crimes committed by a paramilitary unit known as the Scorpions near Srebrenica in July 1995.

According to the charges, the accused “directed, organized, equipped, trained, armed and partly financed” all units which, together with the former JNA, the Serb Army of Krajina and the Republic of Srpska (RS) Army, as well as paramilitary formations in Serbia, Krajina and the RS, had attacked towns and villages in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, committing numerous atrocities.

The five counts within the indictment qualify these acts as crimes against humanity, and violations of the law and the customs of war.