Bosnian Victims' Group Urges Tribunal Not to Release Convicted War Criminal Stanišić

The Association "Women - Victims of War" has called on Graciela Gatti Santana, President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), to ensure that convicted war criminal Jovica Stanišić serves his full 15-year prison sentence. The group reiterated its unwavering confidence in the IRMCT, as well as its predecessor, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Stanišić, who received a 15-year sentence for his involvement in war crimes, served as the Head of the State Security Service (SDB) within Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The association emphasized the crucial significance of Stanišić's conviction, alongside that of high-ranking Serbian SDB official Franko Simatović.

Their judgment, according to a statement from the association, definitively confirmed the international character of the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This ruling established that neighboring Serbia, then known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, actively engaged in aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The verdict, therefore, unequivocally confirmed the comprehensive participation of a neighboring state in the international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina.