Jovica Stanisic in the courtroom

A hearing was held today before Judge Orie’s Trial Chamber to discuss the motion filed by Jovica Stanisic’s defense in which it petitioned the Chamber to issue a subpoena to the Republic of Serbia compelling it to deliver documents to Stanisic’s defense. The documents were produced by the former state security service, now called the Security and Information Agency (BIA). The hearing was attended by the representatives of the authorities from Belgrade and the Serbian embassy in The Hague.

The contents of the documents were not discussed today. The only thing that was disclosed was that the defense classified them in three categories. The first category comprises the partially redacted documents handed over to the defense. The second category comprises incomplete documents that have also been handed over to the defense. The third category contains documents that have yet to be delivered. The defense wants all those documents to be handed over in full, without any redactions. This demand has been partially motivated by the fact that the prosecution has objected to the admission of redacted documents. Franko Simatovic’s defense had previously filed its motion for a subpoena, but today Simatovic’s defense counsel Mihajlo Bakrac said the motion was withdrawn because in the meantime an agreement was reached with the Serbian authorities.

Dusan Ignjatovic, head of the Council for Cooperation with the Tribunal in The Hague, said he was ‘surprised’ by Stanisic’s defense’s ‘unnecessary’ motion for a subpoena to Serbia. As Ignjatovic explained, Serbia has handed over to the defense ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of documents; this shows clearly that Serbia has not intent to obstruct the case of either of the parties. The authorities are prepared to cooperate with the defense as much as possible, Ignjatovic insisted.

The efforts to reach an agreement were stymied for so many months and now the agreement was reached during the one-hour break at the hearing today. The representatives of Serbia and Stanisic’s defense got together and agreed to allow the defense full access to all the redacted and incomplete documents that have already been delivered. A decision on the form in which each of the documents will be admitted into evidence will be made later. As far as the undisclosed documents are concerned, the Serbian representatives said they would specify in writing the reasons why those documents have not been located and handed over to the defense yet.

Interestingly enough, there are documents in the possession of Stanisic’s defense that have aroused the interest of the Republic of Serbia. When Stanisic’s defense counsel Jordash was asked if he was ready to disclose the source of the documents to the Serbian authorities and the manner in which the defense obtained them, Jordash replied that he would ‘discuss the issue in greater detail with his client’.

The trial of the two former chiefs of the Serbian State Security Service, Stanisic and Simatovic, for crimes committed by the police and paramilitary formations under their control in the wars in Croatia and BH was scheduled to continue tomorrow with the evidence of a defense witness whose identity was not disclosed. However, the witness is not in The Hague yet and no information was forthcoming about his arrival. The presiding judge noted that there would only be an administrative hearing on Thursday afternoon this week.

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