Jovica Stanišić

Jovica Stanišić
Head of the State Security Service
Secret agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Personal details
Born Jovan Stanišić
(1950-07-30) 30 July 1950
Ratkovo, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia

Jovan "Jovica" Stanišić (Јовица Станишић; born 30 July 1950, Ratkovo, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a former head of the State Security Service within the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. He was acquitted on 30 May 2013 by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for his role in the wars in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1] During his service he acted in the role of an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[2]

Trial at the ICTY

Stanišić was arrested by Serbian authorities in 2003 and handed over to the ICTY soon after. He pleaded not guilty to all charges. His case was processed together with that of Franko Simatović. He has been charged with persecution, murder, deportation and inhumane acts.[3]

According to the indictment, special Serbian paramilitary units, including Arkan's Tigers, Red Berets and Scorpions, were secretly established by or with the assistance of the Serbian State Security from no later than April 1991 and continued until 1995. They were established for the purpose of undertaking special military actions in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, intended to forcibly remove non-Serbs from those areas.[3] These secret units were trained in various training centres and were then deployed to locations in Croatia and Bosnia where they were subordinated to other "Serb Forces", in particular the local Serb Territorial Defence.

He and Simatović were charged and acquitted of the following crimes:[3] However, it was reported in the New York Times that his acquittal and that of Franko Simatović had been overturned on 15 December 2015 by a United Nations' ICTY Appeals Chamber (presiding judge, Fausto Pocar) which vacated the initial verdict deemed faulty as it was based on an insistence that the men could only be guilty if they "specifically directed" the crimes. The two men were prohibited from returning to Serbia and are being held at The Hague.[4]

Croatia

Bosnia

Part of the charge, that Stanišić was part of a "joint criminal enterprise" including former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević and other Serbian politicians, was concluded the trial of Milan Martić.[5] The court accused him of "attempting to create a Greater Serbia using the areas containing the Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats".

The United States Central Intelligence Agency submitted a sealed document to the court attesting to his role as an undercover operative helping to bring peace to the region.[2]

Acquittal overturned

However, it was reported in the New York Times that his acquittal and that of Franko Simatović had been overturned on 15 December 2015 by a United Nations' ICTY Appeals Chamber (presiding judge, Fausto Pocar). On 22 December 2015, Simatović and Stanišić were granted temporary release. The release date was not made public.

The case is now being handled by the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, MICT, which is taking over the ICTY's remaining cases as it prepares to close in 2017. Evidently back in Serbia, the two must report to a local police station in Belgrade every day and surrender their passports to the Serbian justice ministry.[6] Per ICTY, the judges named for the retrial are Judges Burton Hall, Seon Ki Park and Solomy Balungi Bossa.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Oslobođeni Stanišić i Simatović". B92. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 Miller, Greg (1 March 2009). "Serbian spy's trial lifts cloak on his CIA alliance". Los Angeles Times.
  3. 1 2 3 Carla Del Ponte/Serge Brammertz (10 July 2008). "The Prosecutor vs. Jovica Stanišić & Franko Simatović - Third Amended Indictment" (PDF). International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Hague Court orders retrial for 2 aides of Milosević, New York Times, 16 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Summary of Judgement for Milan Martić". International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 13 June 2007. Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  6. ↑ "UN Court Frees Serbian Security Chiefs Before Trial", balkaninsight.com, 23 December 2015; accessed 25 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "B92 and Vreme Magazine Present the Documentary "The Unit"". B92. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
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