Stanisic

"We want to believe in the judges, in the Hague court that has shown so far that we, the victims, have the encouragement to move forward," Abdurahmanovic said.

The aviator glasses were his signature, together with the red beret. Growing up in the 1990s in Serbia, for me the red beret represented a symbol - affiliation, both formal and informal, with Serbian state security special units, notorious fighters who took part in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The UN's International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague announced on Tuesday that the verdict on Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic's appeal against their conviction for war crimes in Bosnia will be handed down on May 31.

The special state prosecutor's offices in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo: EPA/BORIS PEJOVIC

Police arrested Kascelan, 58, on April 21 suspicion of organising a criminal group that had committed and planned several serious crimes, while another high-ranking gang member, Radoje Zvicer, escaped from the country.

He recalled how he and other prisoners were transported from the village of Crkvina near Bosanski Samac by Miljkovic after Serb forces had attacked the village.

"We can always determine who is responsible during the wars, but this is neither the time nor the place. I think it is extremely important to point out to the citizens of Serbia that the rules and court practice in the Markac and Gotovina cases have changed," Serbian President said.

The media reported that Stanisic and Simatovic were sentenced to 12 years in prison each.
The prosecution proved that the crimes in the indictment were confirmed. The killings and forcible transfers were carried out with discriminatory intent.
The prosecution alleges that the accused participated in the organization of the crimes that took place.

• Stanisic, the former head of Serbian State Security, and Simatovic, his former deputy, are being retried for participating in a 'joint criminal enterprise' to remove non-Serbs from areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Both men are accused of organising and financing Serb armed units that committed crimes during the Croatian and Bosnian wars from 1991 to 1995.

In an appeal hearing on Monday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the prosecution asked for a reversal of the initial verdict on former state security officials Stanisic and Simatovic which found them not guilty of war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia during the 1990s.