STANIŠIĆ - SIMATOVIĆ CASE: A verdict that will change relations in the region, will Serbia's involvement in the aggression against BiH be confirmed in June?

(Patria) - The case, which has been pending before the Hague Tribunal, or its successor, the Residual Mechanism, against Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, has long been covered by the dust and ashes produced by daily politics. 

This is a case whose outcome could have a significant impact on the definition of the entire history of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as on future relations with Serbia. The hearing in this case will be held on January 24 and 25, and according to some unofficial announcements, a verdict is expected in mid-year. 

The case was initiated before the ICTY. The proceedings before the ICTY were concluded in December 2015, and the ICTY Appeals Chamber ordered a complete retrial. Accordingly, the case came under the jurisdiction of the Mechanism, which was established by the UN Security Council to continue the jurisdiction, rights, obligations, and basic functions of the ICTY in light of the expected closure of the ICTY. 

The retrial before the Mechanism concluded with the delivery of the written first-instance verdict on August 6, 2021. The appeals hearing on January 24 and 25, 2023, marks the end of the pre-appeal phase of this case, which began in September 2021. The verdict of the Mechanism's Appeals Chamber is scheduled for June 2023.

Stanišić and Simatović were arrested on March 13, 2003, in Serbia and transferred to the ICTY on May 30 and June 11, 2003. On May 1, 2003, the ICTY Trial Chamber confirmed the indictment, which stated that both accused were co-perpetrators in a joint criminal enterprise (JCE) for the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina by committing the crimes of persecution, murder, deportation, and inhumane acts.
By a majority of votes, the ICTY Trial Chamber found Stanišić and Simatović responsible for committing the crimes alleged in the indictment through participation in the JCE on May 30, 2013, as the Trial Chamber concluded that it had not been established beyond a reasonable doubt that they possessed the necessary intent to achieve a common criminal purpose. The Trial Chamber also considered that it had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused planned or ordered these crimes.

Furthermore, the Trial Chamber concluded by a majority of votes that it had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused aided and abetted the crimes. Accordingly, the Trial Chamber acquitted Stanišić and Simatović on all counts of the indictment by a majority of votes.

Following the prosecution's appeal, the ICTY Appeals Chamber partially granted the appeal on December 15, 2015, and overturned the acquittals. The Appeals Chamber concluded by a majority of votes that the Trial Chamber had erred in its findings regarding the existence and scope of the common criminal purpose shared by multiple individuals before concluding that the intent of Stanišić and Simatović had not been established. In doing so, the Appeals Chamber concluded by a majority of votes that the Trial Chamber had erred in law by failing to make a decision and provide a reasoned opinion on the essential elements of responsibility for the JCE.

The ICTY Appeals Chamber ordered that Stanišić and Simatović be retried on all counts. The retrial began on June 13, 2017. In the meantime, in 2019, Simatović's defense request for an acquittal was rejected. 

The first-instance verdict was delivered on June 30, 2021.

The Trial Chamber found Stanišić and Simatović responsible for aiding and abetting the crime of murder, as a violation of the laws and customs of war and crimes against humanity, and the crime of deportation, forcible displacement, and persecution, as crimes against humanity, committed by Serbian forces after the capture of Bosanski Šamac in April 1992. Specifically, the Trial Chamber found that the accused provided practical assistance that had a significant impact on the commission of the crimes, by training and deploying members of the special unit of the Serbian State Security Service and local Serbs from Bosanski Šamac to participate in the takeover of the municipality.

Accordingly, the Trial Chamber found Stanišić and Simatović guilty on all counts of the indictment and sentenced each to 12 years in prison. The process is still ongoing, except that an appeal hearing will be held on January 24 and 25 this year; something earlier, on January 19, another status hearing was announced. 

Repercussions of the expected verdict

With a conviction, Bosnia and Herzegovina will officially receive what we all know: that Serbia was the aggressor against BiH, that it participated in the dismemberment of BiH with all its capacities, helping quislings from BiH militarily, politically, and through intelligence, especially considering that both Stanišić and Simatović were part of Slobodan Milošević's intelligence agencies.

If it were an acquittal, or if a precedent occurred, it would be a stain on the Tribunal at the end of its work. Insiders expect that, at the very least, the first-instance verdict will be confirmed, and it is not impossible that it will be extended to some other counts, considering that the Red Berets were part of the Serbian State Security and committed terrible crimes in BiH. 

Therefore, it is surprising how little interest there is in Bosnia and Herzegovina in a case that will undoubtedly change relations in this region in the future, as well as what happened in the past. Bosnian society has never learned that short-sightedness has cost it dearly many times, that because of such thinking it has been the target of genocidal intentions, and that the consequence of the last genocidal campaign is that almost 50 percent of its territory has been ethnically cleansed of non-Serbs! 

He who forgets, it will happen again!

(R. Belko)