NETHERLANDS/FILE: Defence lawyer says Jovica Stanisic not mentally fit to participate in resumed ICTY trial

Record ID: 1542591

  • Title: NETHERLANDS/FILE: Defence lawyer says Jovica Stanisic not mentally fit to participate in resumed ICTY trial
  • Date: 10th June 2009
  • Summary: STANISIC STANDING WITH SERBIAN SECRET POLICE AND MEMBERS OF UNPROFOR STANISIC ADDRESSING THE MEDIA STANISIC STANDING WITH SERBIAN SECRET POLICE AND MEMBERS OF UNPROFOR
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2009 23:16
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9513500P4XHFNRWIWG1LB4BYR
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Lawyers and judges at the UN trial of two former Serbian intelligence chiefs accused of war crimes in Serb controlled areas of Croatia and Bosnia during the war in the former Yugoslavia found themselves on Tuesday (June 9) deliberating once more whether one of the accused was fit to stand trial.
    Jovica Stanisic, former head of the secret service of Yugoslavia, and Franko Simatovic, a commander of elite Serb forces, are accused of arming and training militias who committed atrocities against non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia between 1991 and 1995.
    The trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague was suspended last year when an an ICTY-appointed medical team said Stanisic was showing symptoms of osteoporosis and kidney stones.
    A psychiatric report last year also classified Stanisic as having "severe depression," although judges insisted he was "fit to stand trial."
    Stanisic's defence lawyer Geert Jan Knoops told the court on Tuesday that his client was still unfit to participate in court proceedings.
    "Both Mr Jordash and I went to see the defendant this morning just before the medical examination. And we were informed that Mr. Stanisic is not able to participate at this video link conference purely based on his mental condition. So it has nothing to do with the technicalities, but purely on the basis of his mental state at this moment," said Jan Knoops.
    A US reporter last month said Stanisic, who served under late Serb president Slobodan Milosevic had worked for the US Central Intelligence Agency.
    The Lost Angeles Times reporter claims Stanisic had secret meetings with the CIA in Belgrade where he shared information on the Milosevic regime, the locations of NATO hostages, information on grave sites and helped to organise secret bases in Bosnia.
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