Concerns about possible threats to witnesses and victims. Possible severe sentence the main motive for the accused to fail to appear at his trial. Guarantees given by Serbia and Montenegro "worthless."


The Office of the Prosecutor of the International War Crimes Tribunal stated that it had a "real fear" that the accused, if provisionally released, would pose a threat to the victims, witnesses and their families; it forcefully opposed the motion for the provisional release of Jovica Stanisic. According to the prosecution, the fear is real because Jovica Stanisic, as long-time head of the Serbian State Security Service, has the "necessary contacts and means to locate prosecution witnesses and their families” and to intimidate them in various ways or do "something even worse" to them. The very fact that an accused of such stature is at large would, in the prosecution’s view, make some of the "potential witnesses and informants" more reluctant to assist the Office of the Prosecutor and the Tribunal. Pointing out that Stanisic has been charged with some of the most serious crimes against humanity – persecutions, murders, deportation, inhumane acts and the massacres of civilians in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1991 and 1995 – the prosecution warns that if provisionally released, the accused would have good reason not to appear at his trial. The main reason is that Stanisic, if proven guilty, would receive "a very long sentence, perhaps even life imprisonment." In its motion for provisional release, Stanisic's defense counsel submitted the guarantees of the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro and letters of support from the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro. The prosecution, however, expresses its doubts as to the reliability of the guarantees, noting that since parliamentary elections last December, cooperation of Serbia and Montenegro with the Office of the Prosecutor has been "frozen in all its aspects." In its response to Stanisic's motion, the prosecution invites the court "not to give any weight to the offered guarantees.” The date for oral arguments on Jovica Stanisic's motion has not been set yet.

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