Mico Stanisic in the courtroom

On 7 October 2013, the special panel decided to deny the prosecution’s motion for the reconsideration of the decision to disqualify Judge Frederik Harhoff from the Trial Chamber hearing the case against Vojislav Seselj. The decision prompted Mico Stanisic’s defense counsels to file a motion to the Appeals Chamber to declare a mistrial and to release Stanisic. Stanisic was Bosnian Serb police minister during the war.

In March 2013, judges Burton Hall, Frederik Harhoff and Guy Delvoie sentenced Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin to 22 years in prison for crimes against Croats and Muslims in 1992. Both parties appealed against the judgment: while the prosecution sought ‘significant increase’ of sentences, the defense teams called for the acquittal of the accused, or alternatively, ‘new, adequate, considerably lower sentences’.

In their latest motion, Stanisic’s lawyers note that the Special Panel’s decision showed that Harhoff’s bias – which resulted in his disqualification from the Trial Chamber in Seselj’s case – was not limited to that case or a group of other cases. On the contrary, the defense argues, “it is a final decision finding an unacceptable appearance of bias in favor of the conviction of accused persons”.

According to the defense, Stanisic’s right to fair trial was ‘violated irreparably’ given the ‘unprecedented’ decision of the special paneland in light of the fact that Judge Harhoff was a member of the Trial Chamber that found Stanisic guilty. Since Stanisic was not tried by a trial chamber consisting of three unbiased judges, the case against Stanisic ‘does not accord with recognized international legal standards and must be vacated.

Taking into account the ‘seriousness of the breach of fair trial rights’, Stanisic’s lawyers Slobodan Zecevic and Stephane Bourgon urge the Appeals Chamber to rule that the proceedings against their client must be immediately discontinued. If the motion is granted, the defense will immediately file for Stanisic’s provisional release because there would be no legal grounds for his continued detention.

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