ICTY jails two former high-ranking Bosnian Serbs for war crimes
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in a judgment on March 27, sentenced two former high-level Bosnian Serb officials to 22 years imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.
Mico Stanišic and Stojan Zupljanin were initially indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sits in The Hague, in 2005 and 1999, respectively.
Stanišic, Minister of the Interior of Republika Srpska, was convicted of crimes committed in 20 municipalities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, including persecution, torture, unlawful detention, forcible transfer and deportation, and wanton destruction of towns and villages.
Zupljanin was convicted of similar crimes committed in eight municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the Chief of the Regional Security Services Centre of Banja Luka between April and December 1992, and from May to July 1992 was also a member of the Crisis Staff of the Autonomous Region of Krajina (ARK).
“The trial chamber was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that both Stanišic and Zupljanin participated in a joint criminal enterprise (JCE) with the objective to permanently remove non-Serbs from the territory of a planned Serbian state and that many of the crimes committed in the municipalities were foreseeable to the accused,” the tribunal said in a media statement, quoted by the UN News Centre.
(Mico Stanišic, right, and Stojan Zupljanin appearing before the ICTY in the Hague. Photo: ICTY)
