GUILTY

Heads of the secret police of the former President of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević. (Case number: MICT-15-96-A). Jovica Stanišić was the chief of the State Security Service (State Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia) and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Franko Simatović was the commander of the Special Operations Unit within the Second Administration of the DB MUP of Serbia and was also sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Described as "the most trusted men of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević on the ground" and "heads of Milošević's secret police," the roles of these two high officials of the State Security (DB) of Serbia – Jovica Stanišić, the chief of DB at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Serbia, and his right-hand man, Franko Simatović Frenki, commander of the Special Operations Unit (JSO) of DB which was formed in May 1991, during the dissolution of Yugoslavia, were pivotal.

They were part of a joint criminal enterprise along with Slobodan Milošević, president of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Vojislav Šešelj, leader of the Serbs in Croatia Goran Hadžić, commander of the Serb forces in Croatia Milan Martić, leader of the Serbs in BiH Radovan Karadžić, commander of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) Ratko Mladić, and the former president of Republika Srpska Biljana Plavšić. Their objective was the violent and permanent removal of the majority non-Serb population from large parts of the territories of Croatia and BiH. To this end, they utilized various units – "Knindže" ("Ninjas" from Knin), "Škorpioni", Arkan's "Tigers" (officially known as the Serbian Volunteer Guard), "Red Berets" – JSO.

With this verdict, Stanišić and Simatović became the first two officials from Serbia convicted for crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Slobodan Milošević had been charged but died in 2006 during his trial. They were found guilty of participating in a joint criminal enterprise, as well as crimes committed in five other municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one municipality in Croatia. The Appeals Chamber accepted the prosecution's appeal and concluded that they were responsible for participating in a joint criminal enterprise (JCE) aimed at the violent removal of Bosniaks, Croats, and other non-Serb populations throughout the duration of the war in BiH.

They were convicted for crimes committed by the Special Purpose Units of the Serbian Ministry of Interior and other Serbian forces in 1992 in Bosnia and Herzegovina: in Bijeljina, Zvornik, Bosanski Šamac, Doboj, and Sanski Most, and for crimes committed by the "Škorpioni" unit in 1995 in Trnovo, as well as crimes in Sanski Most and a murder committed in Dalj Planina in Croatia in June 1992.

"If you look at their roles during the conflict, they had a very important and critical part in initiating, and then continuing the campaign of ethnic cleansing through arming, through financial support, through deployment of special units, they really stoked the ethnic tensions that engulfed the rest of Croatia, and then Bosnia and Herzegovina" said Prosecutor Adam Weber.