32 minutes agoStanisishiqi and Simatovici sentenced to 12 years in prison
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)The UN tribunal in The Hague sentenced two former heads of Serbia's state security service, charged with leading paramilitary groups during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, to 12 years. The convicts are Jovica Stanissic, 70, former head of Serbia's state security service, and his deputy, [...]
The convicts are Jovica Stanissic, 70, former head of Serbia's state security service, and his deputy, Franco Simatovic, 71.
The prosecution had sought life sentence, while the defense, their release.
paramilitary groups, led by them, have included elite units called Red Berets and the Tigers of Arkan.
Both units allegedly killed hundreds of people.
The tribunal in The Hague has acquitted Stanisic and Simatovic of counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2013.
But after the prosecution's protests and appeals, judges have ordered the case against them in 2015.
The retrial began in 2017.
Both defendants have been declared innocent of crimes against humanity, such as persecution, murder, deportation, and forced transfer.
Both have been close associates of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who is known as the Balkan butcher.
Milosevic was also tried in The Hague, but died before the sentence was pronounced in 2006.
