A regular status conference in the case of former leaders of Serbian State Security Service, charged with crimes against humanity in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.


As prosecutor Dermot Groome indicated today at the status conference in the case of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, the prosecution intends to call a total of 120 witnesses during its case. Eleven will testify in full in the courtroom; another 104 will submit their depositions in lieu of an examination-in-chief and be cross-examined by the defense counsel. There will be five expert witnesses.

The case against the former leaders of the Serbian State Security Service, who have been in the UN Detention Unit since last June, is not ready to go to trial yet. The prosecution is waiting for Chambers to grant protective measures to a number of witnesses; once that is done, it will disclose their statements to the defense. On the other hand, lawyers for Stanisic and Simatovic asked today for more time before the submission of their pre-trial briefs. The deadline has been extended until 18 January 2005, not (as they requested) until 1 March 2005.

Stanisic and Simatovic are charged with crimes committed in the first half of the 1990s in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina by the so-called "special units of the Serbian State Security." According to the indictment, this category includes all paramilitary formations “established by or with the assistance of the Serbian DB for the purpose of undertaking special military actions in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina." Among the "special units of the Serbian DB" were the Red Berets, Arkan's Tigers, Seselj's Chetniks, Martic's police and other paramilitary formations.

Two months ago, the Trial Chamber granted Stanisic's and Simatovic's motions for provisional release pending trial, but the two will remain in jail until the Appeals Chamber rules on the prosecution’s appeal against that decision.

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