Jovica Stanisic i Franko Simatovic in the courtroom

Today, the two former chiefs of the Serbian State Security Service, Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, pleaded not guilty on all counts in the indictment charging them with complicity in a joint criminal enterprise. According to the indictment, the goal of the enterprise was the ethnic cleansing of large parts of Croatia and BH. Defense counsels Wayne Jordash and Mihajlo Bakrac told the judges that the accused stuck to the statements they had given at their initial appearance before the Tribunal in 2003.

The appearance today marked the first stage of the trial before the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals three days after the Tribunal’s Appeals Chamber quashed the trial judgment. The Appeals Chamber ordered a re-trial on the same indictment with the application of the proper legal standards.

The indictment covers the period from 1991 to 1995 and the territories of the so-called SAO Krajina and SAO Baranja, Slavonia and Western Srem in Croatia and the municipalities of Bijeljina, Zvornik, Bosanski Samac, Sanski Most, Doboj and Trnovo in BH.

The defense teams of the former Serbian secret service indicated today that they had filed motions for provisional release on behalf of their clients. The necessary guarantees of the Serbian government have already been obtained, the defense counsels noted. The prosecution team – headed by Matthias Marcussen today – didn’t a priori object the request. Before the Trial Chamber issued its decision, the prosecutor said, the prosecution team wanted the accused to undergo an urgent medical examination. The defense noted in its provisional release motion that Stanisic’s health condition was ‘bad but stable’. If Stanisic could remain at his home, that would certainly improve his health, the defense argued.

At the hearing today, the defense asked when the re-trial would begin. Judge Burton Hall replied that everything would be made clear in the coming weeks. Instead of settling the issue, Judge Hall actually upset the defense as they would prefer for the preparatory stage to last as long as possible. The defense teams noted that they had not expected the re-trial and would therefore need to familiarize themselves with the evidence, form new defense teams and see what had gone on in the meantime at other, related trials in The Hague.

The prosecution team is also yet to be fully established but prosecutor Marcussen assured the judges he would be ready to go to trial as soon as ordered to do so.

The hearing was the last session in The Hague before the Tribunal’s winter recess. Judge Hall concluded the hearing wishing everyone in the courtroom happy holidays.

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