UN judges today sentenced two Serbian former top spies who worked for former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to 15 years in prison, overturning their original sentence in the latest wartime trial at The Hague Tribunal. Balkans.

The judges of the appeal court found Jovica Stanisic, the former head of Serbia’s state security service, and his subordinate Franko Simatovic responsible for crimes in various parts of Bosnia and Croatia due to their role in funding and training Serbian paramilitaries during the breakup of Yugoslavia. in the 1990s.

The two master spies “shared the intention to promote a joint criminal plan for the permanent and forcible removal of the majority of the non-Serb population from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia,” Court President Graciela Gatti Santana said in the ruling. .

Stanisic and Simatovic were originally convicted in 2021 on lesser charges, including aiding and abetting crime in one Bosnian city, but prosecutors called for more municipalities to be included.

The two men denied all allegations and claimed they had no real influence over Serbian paramilitaries fighting in Bosnia.

They now have no other remedy to challenge today’s decision, making it the first time Serbian government officials have been convicted of crimes committed in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war.

Prosecutors argued that these men were a direct link between the Milosevic government in Serbia and the crimes committed during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia, which killed at least 100,000 people and forced another million from their homes.

Milosevic died in 2006 in his cell during a trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in The Hague.

Stanisic, 72, who was present in court, waved his arms nervously as the judges announced the verdict. Simatovich, 73, watched the trial via video link from a nearby UN detention center.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP, Reuters.