The former commander of the Special Operations Unit of the State Security of Serbia, Franko Simatovic, arrived in Belgrade yesterday, where he was transferred from The Hague due to poor health.
As confirmed by the law firm that defended Simatovic, as referred to by the public media service of Serbia, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), he arrived in Serbia yesterday because of his poor health and in order to receive treatment in his own country.
According to the Serbian media, Simatovic was released due to a significant deterioration of his health, and Serbia provided extradition guarantees. These guarantees include that, if he violates any of the conditions under which he was temporarily released, Serbia will arrest him and extradite him to the Tribunal again to serve his sentence.
It should be recalled that Simatovic was sentenced to 15 years in prison for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Croatia before the Hague Tribunal.
On May 31st of this year, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRCMT) found Simatovic, together with Jovica Stanisic, guilty of joint criminal enterprise in seven municipalities in BiH.
Simatovic and Stanisic were convicted of crimes in Bijeljina, Zvornik, Doboj, Trnovo, Bosanski Samac, and Sanski Most by the second instance and final verdict.
It is also important to note that Simatovic’s release from prison in The Hague and his arrival are important from another segment. Namely, according to Serbian media, Simatovic was also invited to testify in the “Panda” case, which refers to the murder of six young men in a restaurant in Peja, Kosovo.
The massacre took place on December 14th, 1998, and has still not been solved, Aleksandar Vucic has said on several occasions that the murder was not carried out by Albanians and that the public will be surprised when the perpetrators are discovered, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
