War criminal Mićo Stanišić remains behind bars

(Patria) - Convicted war criminal Mićo Stanišić will not be released early, decided the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts (IRMCT), Graciela Gatti Santana, in consultation with three judges.

"I am of the opinion that the request should be rejected," Gatti Santana stated in the decision.

She emphasized that, "although Stanišić meets the conditions for considering early release, there are factors that go against his early release, including the high gravity of his crimes and the inability to show sufficient signs of rehabilitation".

"Furthermore, I have no evidence before me to establish the existence of compelling humanitarian reasons that would justify overturning this negative assessment," it was stated in the decision, with a note that "the Registrar is ordered to provide the authorities of Serbia, as well as the Prosecution, with a public redacted version of this decision as soon as possible".

Stanišić submitted the request on October 15, 2024, after serving two-thirds of his 22-year prison sentence.

In 2013, the Hague Tribunal convicted Stanišić in the first instance to 22 years in prison for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war from 1992-1995.

He was found guilty of persecution, murder, and torture. He was tried together with Stojan Župljanin, former head of the police regional center in Banja Luka, who was sentenced to the same prison term.

Stanišić was the Minister of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska in 1992, and the trial before the Hague Tribunal began on September 14, 2009.

Mićo Stanišić surrendered on March 11, 2005. He served his sentence in Poland from 2019, and was then temporarily transferred to The Hague on January 22, 2025.