Serbian State Security's Special Operations Unit

Serbian Security Officials Contest Hague Court Convictions

Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic urged the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Tuesday to reverse the verdict sentencing them to 12 years in prison each and acquit them of aiding and abetting Serb fighting units that committed crimes in the Bosanski Samac area during the Bosnian war in 1992.

UN Court Hears Appeals in Serbian Officials’ War Crimes Trial

Franko Simatovic (right) and Jovica Stanisic in court in June 2017. Photo: EPA/Michael Kooren/Reuters pool.

The prosecution will then present its own appeal against the verdict on Wednesday, urging the UN court to convict the defendants of other wartime crimes of which they were initially acquitted and impose longer sentences.

Serbian Security Officials’ War Crime Verdict Set for 2023

Judge Carmel Agius, president of the UN's International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, told the court in The Hague on Thursday that the appeal verdict in the trial of former Serbian State Security Service officials Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic will be delivered "about this time next year".

Serbian State Security Chiefs Convicted of Aiding War Crimes

The former chief of Serbian State Security, Jovica Stanisic, and his deputy Franko Simatovic, were sentenced to 12 years in prison each on Wednesday by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague for aiding and abetting the commission of wartime crimes in the Bosanski Samac area of Bosnia in 1992.