Trial of Stanisic and Simatovic Begins on June 13

Former chief of the Serbian State Security Service Stanisic and his assistant Simatovic have been charged with committing crimes against Croats and Muslims during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The two defendants are currently in Serbia after having been provisionally released.

Presiding judge Burton Hall from Bahamas said at the hearing that Stanisic requested the Tribunal to extend his provisional release during the first part of the retrial when the prosecutors were expected to present their evidence.

The Chamber will decide on the request soon, Hall said. He also said that defendant Simatovic had not requested the Tribunal to let him stay at liberty after the beginning of the trial.

The Trial Chamber allowed the prosecutors to include testimonies by 143 witnesses, some of which will be in the written form, in the case file. The prosecution will have 104 working hours at its disposal to complete the presentation of evidence against Stanisic and Simatovic.

According to judge Hall, due to Stanisic’s health condition, hearings would be held three times a week.

Stanisic and Simatovic were previously tried before the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, ICTY, on the basis of the same indictment. They have been charged with persecution on racial, religious and political grounds, murders, deportations and forcible resettlement of Croat and Muslim civilians.

Following the first trial, the ICTY’s Trial Chamber  acquitted them on all five counts. However, on December 15, 2015 the ICTY’s Appeals Chamber accepted the key grounds of an appeal filed by the prosecution, quashing the verdict of release and ordering a retrial.

Stanisic and Simatovic are in Serbia. They were granted temporary release by the ICTY on December 22, 2015, seven days after the Appeals Chamber had quashed the first instance verdict of release and ordered a retrial.

As determined by doctors at The Hague and in Belgrade, Stanisic suffers from a chronic digestive disease and depression. His illness had big influence on the course of the first instance trial, which began at the ICTY in 2009 following an unsuccessful attempt.

After the first defendant had gotten sick, the trial was interrupted for more than a year. Prior to returning to the courtroom, Stanisic followed the trial via video link from the detention unit in Scheveningen for a certain period of time.

During his temporary stay at liberty Stanisic was examined in Belgrade by a gastroenterologist and psychiatrist designated by the ICTY. Following the examinations, they filed a report to the judges on Stanisic’s ability to travel and stand trial.

The doctors’ reports are kept confidential in accordance with the ICTY’s stand that medical information is a private matter of defendants.

Serbian authorities arrested Stanisic and Simatovic before the first instance trial during an operation called “Sablja” (“sabre”) following the murder of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on March 12, 2003. Stanisic was extradited to The Hague on June 11 and Simatovic on May 30, 2003.

On the occasion of their first appearance in court they pleaded not guilty of the crimes charged upon them. Stanisic and Simatovic were temporarily released to Serbia on several occasions prior and during their trial at the ICTY.