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Former high-ranking Bosnian Serbs receive sentences for war crimes from UN tribunal

Mico Stanišic (right) and Stojan Zupljanin appearing before the ICTY in the Hague.
ICTY
Mico Stanišic (right) and Stojan Zupljanin appearing before the ICTY in the Hague.

Former high-ranking Bosnian Serbs receive sentences for war crimes from UN tribunal

Two former high-level Bosnian Serb officials were sentenced today to 22 years imprisonment by a United Nations tribunal, 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.

Mr. 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.

Mr. 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 stated in a news release.

Since its establishment the Tribunal has indicted 161 persons for serious violations of humanitarian law committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001. Proceedings against 136 individuals have been concluded.