War criminal Mićo Stanišić, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison by the Hague Tribunal for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, again requested early release from the International Mechanism for Criminal Courts (IMCC).
In the request submitted by his lawyer Slobodan M. Zečević, it is stated that Stanišić has fulfilled the threshold of two-thirds of the sentence served according to the legislation of the Republic of Poland, where he is currently serving a prison sentence.
As proof of rehabilitation, the defense points out that Stanišić served his sentence in a multi-ethnic environment, where he maintained friendly relations with prisoners of different ethnic backgrounds, and that during his two-decade stay in prison, no disciplinary proceedings were ever conducted against him, writes Detektor.
It is also stated that due to the long separation, he was unable to provide immediate support to his family, with whom he maintained regular telephone and physical contact within the framework of his financial capabilities.
If the Hague Mechanism grants the request, Stanišić plans to live in the family home in Belgrade, and he would support himself from his own pension.
This is not the first time that the war criminal Stanišić has asked for release, but the MMKS rejected his previous requests.
Stanišić was sentenced in The Hague together with Stojan Župljanin, former head of the regional police center in Banja Luka, to 22 years in prison each. Both were found guilty of persecution, murder and torture, while Župljanin was additionally convicted of extermination.
The trial in this case began on September 14, 2009, and the first-instance verdict was pronounced in March 2013.
The Appeals Council confirmed the sentences in June 2016. Stanišić voluntarily surrendered to The Hague in March 2005, after which he stayed in temporary freedom in Serbia on several occasions until the start of the trial itself.
