Stankovic: The Search Continues

The State Agency for Investigation and Protection (SIPA) has no new information about Radovan Stankovic, who escaped from Foca prison on 25 May this year.

“We do not have any new pieces of information concerning Stankovic that could be of interest to the public,” says Dragan Lukac, SIPA Assistant Director.

Stankovic was sentenced, by a legally-binding verdict passed by the Court of BiH, to 20 years’ imprisonment for crimes committed against civilians on the territory of Foca municipality in 1992.

According to the indictment, Stankovic, a former member of Miljevina Battalion of Foca Tactical Brigade, Republika Srpska Army (VRS), was one of the organisers and supervisors at the so-called “Karaman house”, which was used as a detention centre for women and which was also known among Serbian soldiers as the “Javna kuca” (bawdy house).

The verdict against Stankovic indicates that the girls held in this house were physically and mentally abused, and regularly raped in a number of ways. They were also forced to perform hard manual labour – cooking, washing, and even the bathing of soldiers – in the house, but also in other places in Foca and Miljevina where they were taken.

The case of Radovan Stankovic was the first case referred by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to BiH for further processing.

Before the referral of the case, Stankovic stayed in the Hague tribunal’s detention unit. According to data available to BiH authorities, Serbian authorities granted him a citizenship on 2 December 2004, ie while he was still in the detention unit.

At the press conference held in Sarajevo on 7 June, Lukac asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH, the State Ministry of Justice and the State Ministry of Civil Affairs to ask the Serbian authorities to “annul the decision granting Stankovic Serbian citizenship”. This was because of fears that his dual citizenship might cause problems in case of his arrest and extradition to BiH.

According to the existing laws, Serbia cannot extradite its citizens to other countries.

Representatives of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Justice have instantly opted out claiming that they “do not have an authority to request cancellation of citizenship”, while representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have promised to do it “using diplomatic procedures when they get official information from SIPA”.

A few weeks later, Nebojsa Regoje, PR of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Justice Report that this ministry “did not have authority to request cancellation of citizenship”.

“The request for cancellation of citizenship should be made by whoever suggested it in the first place,” Regoje said.

According to official information, in the meantime SIPA continues the investigation of persons who allegedly helped Stankovic escape.

The investigation has covered six person so far, three of them are in the detention unit of the Court of BiH.

Mile Krsmanovic, Assistant Manager of the Correctional Facility in Foca (KPZ), Ranko Stankovic, the fugitive’s brother and Ranko Vukovic have been detained.

On 28 June, the Court of BiH has extended the custody of Krsmanovic and Stankovic for two months, while Vukovic was arrested on 24 June when a one-month detention started.

The Prosecution of BiH suspects that Ranko Vukovic arranged, in the period from 20 to 23 May, for purchase of the motor vehicle used for Stankovic’s escape.

Brankica Davidovic and Ranka Dragicevic are also suspected to have helped Stankovic escape, but they were released from custody by a decision rendered by the Court of BiH on 27 June.

Rajko Vukovic, who was arrested on 11 July on the basis of a suspicion to have committed a crime against civilians on the territory of Foca, is also suspected, according to the media, for having helped Stankovic escape.

On the basis of a warrant issued by Interpol, the search for Stankovic has been undertaken in the neighbouring countries as well.

“The Interpol office in Sarajevo has made the first move and informed all offices in the World and requested the issuance of a red warrant for Radovan Stankovic. We therefore show that we can cooperate in order to make sure that war criminals and other dangerous individuals do not escape the justice,” Interpol secretary general Ronald K. Noble said in a letter to Justice Report.

Noble has also reminded us that, in 1996 a red warrant for Stankovic was issued, at the request of the ICTY, but it was dismissed after his arrest in BiH in 2002.

ICTY president Judge Fausto Pocar sent a letter, on 31 May, to Barisa Colak, Minister of Justice of BiH, asking for all pieces of information concerning Stankovic’s escape.

According to the media, Colak sent a response to Pocar after more than one month, saying that the delay was caused by him having to “wait for responses from relevant investigative bodies”.

The police in the neighbouring countries, and particularly those in Serbia and Montenegro, have not issued public announcements concerning the search for Stankovic, although BiH authorities consider that Stankovic is hiding in one of these two countries.

Erna Mackic is BIRN – Justice Report journalist. [email protected]