Stanisic and Simatovic, both aged 54, are charged on the basis of individual responsibility with five counts of persecution on political, religious or racial grounds, murder, deportation and forcible resettlement of civilians as crimes against humanity, and with murder as a violation of the laws and customs of war.
They are also charged, as the chief operatives and closest associates of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, with participating in the implementation of a joint criminal enterprise the purpose of which was to forcibly and permanently remove most non-Serbs, primarily Croats, Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the period from 1 August 1991 to 31 December 1995.
They were arrested in Belgrade on 13 March 2003 within a police operation codenamed "Sabre", one day after the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. At their initial appearance before the tribunal, they pleaded not guilty to all charges.