Stanisic, a former head of the Serbian Interior Ministry's state security department, and Franko Simatovic, his assistant and the founder and a former commander of the notorious Unit for Special Operations (known as the Red Berets), are accused by the ICTY of war crimes committed in Kosovo in 1999. They were arrested in Belgrade in a police operation in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in March 2003. After being kept in custody in Belgrade for two months, they were transferred to The Hague.
Although the tribunal's prosecution was strongly against their provisional release, Stanisic and Simatovic were allowed to await the start of their trial in Belgrade after the Serbian government gave guarantees for them. According to the latest issue of Vreme weekly, the US Administration also provided guarantees for the two.
Serbian justice and interior ministers Zoran Stojkovic and Dragan Jocic said today they were satisfied with the decision of the Hague-based tribunal, describing this move as the start of "two-way cooperation".
A human rights activist, Natasa Kandic, however, said that the provisional release of Stanisic and Simatovic seriously undermined the ongoing trials for the assassinations of Zoran Djindjic and a former Serbian President, Ivan Stambolic, as well as some other trials.
Kandic, who is the chairwoman of the Humanitarian Law Fund, said that the tribunal had made "an unbelievable mistake" which was strengthening the anti-ICTY lobby in Serbia. She told a round-table discussion in Belgrade on Thursday that she had information that witnesses were being intimidated by some people who worked for ministries, the police and the army.
On Thursday afternoon, the Serbian government stated that it had decided to provide the ICTY with guarantees for another two Serb indictees in Scheveningen, Vojislav Seselj and General Dragomir Milosevic.
State Administration Minister Zoran Loncar said the guarantees were given in compliance with the law on cooperation with the Hague-based tribunal, which ensures this right to everybody who voluntarily surrendered, he added.