Croatia dissatisfied with Stanišić and Simatović verdict: Hope remains with the Appeals Chamber

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Although Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović were sentenced to 12 years in prison, the Ministry of Justice and Administration expresses dissatisfaction with the verdict of the Trial Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts, delivered in the retrial.

We believe that the verdict, by which Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović were convicted only for crimes committed in Bosanski Šamac, does not reflect the wartime events and the actual roles of Stanišić and Simatović during the Greater Serbian aggression against the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Such a decision also causes dissatisfaction because in the verdicts against Milan Babić and Milan Martić for crimes committed in the territory of the Republic of Croatia, the existence of a joint criminal enterprise was established, in which, alongside the highest officials of the Republic of Serbia, led by Slobodan Milošević, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović also participated.

The Ministry of Justice and Administration expresses hope that the Appeals Chamber will overturn the verdict and sentence Stanišić and Simatović for all crimes committed in the territory of the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the prosecution accuses them of.

We remind you that these are the most serious and cruelest crimes, such as those in Vukovar, Škabrnja, and Srebrenica, committed in the implementation of the Greater Serbian project of Slobodan Milošević's regime, which undoubtedly deserve the strictest possible punishment.