The verdict against Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic means that there is a direct link between the Government of Serbia and the crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war, the Director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Emir Suljagic told N1 on Wednesday.

According to him, from now on “one cannot write about the paramilitary Serbian formations in BiH, but about police formations of the Republic of Serbia.”

“The Department of State Security functioned within the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, which means that there is a direct link between the Government of Serbia for crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as a direct responsibility of the Serbian President's institution for crimes committed by the Serbian State Security in BiH, especially during 1992,” Suljagic said.

“Units that were formed, trained, equipped and instructed and supported by the State Security Department of Serbia are responsible for some of the most horrific crimes,” said the director of the Srebrenica Memorial Centre.
Suljagic noted that Stanisic and Simatovic were not accused as private citizens but in the official capacity of the directors of the State Security Department of Serbia.

Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic were sentenced to 12 years each. They were convicted of aiding and abetting crimes aimed at forcibly and permanently removing most non-Serbs from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina by committing the crimes of persecution, murder, deportation and inhumane acts. They were found responsible on all five counts of the indictment, but not for planning the crime. The two were also not convicted for Joint Criminal Enterprise.

They remain in custody until the country in which they will serve their sentence is determined. The time spent in detention was included in their sentence.