Camp inmates from Bosanski Šamac: The court ruled Serbia participated in a joint criminal enterprise, and we knew that before

(Patria) - The final verdict for former heads of the Serbian State Security Service, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, is just, but what do we, as victims of their crimes, gain from it today, we have to live as best we can - said Muhamed Mehmedi, president of the Association of Camp Inmates of Bosanski Šamac, for the Patria News Agency.

The Appeals Chamber today delivered the final conviction against Stanišić and Simatović, sentencing them to 15 years in prison each. They were convicted for participation in a joint criminal enterprise, murder, persecution, and deportation of the non-Serb population in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- The court is the one that convicts. That they were guilty of a joint criminal enterprise was known before, but well, they stretched out the whole process. It is important that the court determined that they were participants and that they organized it, but what do we gain from them receiving 15 years in prison each?

Related text: Stanišić and Simatović convicted for joint criminal enterprise, received 15 years in prison each

No one can return what we have lost and all that we have suffered. We still live today as we have lived so far - from today until tomorrow, if you manage, you manage, if you don't, tough luck. We, as ordinary people, still have no rights, we have nothing - Mehmedi told us.

He pointed out that former camp inmates in Bosanski Šamac are receiving fines of two to three thousand marks that they have to pay to the Republika Srpska entity.

- Instead of receiving war reparations because they were camp inmates, they are today receiving fines that they have to pay to Republika Srpska, with court costs cited as the reason. That is shameful - added Mehmedi.