ICTY orders retrial for 2 Serbs acquitted of war crimes

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)  on Tuesday ordered a retrial for two senior Serbian officials acquitted of war crimes during the 1990s Balkans conflict. Jovica Stani?i? and Franko Simatovi? were acquitted in 2013 after the court found that the prosecution failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused planned or ordered crimes against humanity. The appeals chamber quashed that decision and ordered a retrial on all counts in the original indictment, citing numerous errors by the trial chamber. The marks only the second time the ICTY has ordered a retrial.

The ICTY and the Balkan States continue to prosecute those accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity that left more than 100,000 people dead and millions displaced during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. In May the ICTY ordered Serbia’s justice ministry to return Vojislav Seselj to his detention cell immediately. Seselj had been held in The Hague on charges of leading ethnic Serbs to persecute non-Serbs during the Croatia and Bosnia wars in the 1990s but was released last month  to return to Serbia for cancer treatment. Seselj has pleaded not guilty on nine counts including murder and torture. The ICTY had revoked his provisional release in March, because Seselj spoke at a news conference in Belgrade and stated that he would not return voluntarily to The Hague.