War crimes

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Wednesday increased the sentences handed down to the former chief of Serbian State Security, Jovica Stanisic, and his deputy Franko Simatovic, to 15 years in prison each, rejecting their appeals against their convictions.

The former heads of the Department of State Security of Serbia are accused of aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes in Bosanski amac.
In June 2021, Stanii and Simatovi were sentenced to 12 years in prison by the first-instance verdict.

After almost two weeks of intense negotiations, experts from more than 70 countries gathered in Ljubljana adopted a document to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It is the first such treaty since the 1998 Rome Statute.

Greece should advocate a new approach to genocide remembrance. Currently genocides are memorialized on a parochial basis.

Representatives of some 70 countries gathered in Ljubljana on 15 May for a two-week conference in a bid to finalise what is considered to be the first key international treaty on prosecution of atrocities since the 1998 Rome Statute.

With declarations from the parliamentary rostrum, the political formations in the 49th National Assembly marked the 108th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The leader of "Vazrazhdane" (Revival) Kostadin Kostadinov reminded:

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has issued a message to mark the 108th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

"Preserving the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide is the minimum duty of all humanity. Our thoughts today are with the Armenians of our homeland and with the entire world," Dendias tweeted.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou marked Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24 by calling for the fight against all forms of hatred.

The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court announced on Friday that it has rejected a prosecution appeal and cleared Hazim Fazlovic, the former commander of the Third Battalion of the 108th Motorised Brigade of the Bosnian Army, of bearing responsibility for crimes against prisoners of war in Brcko in 1993.

The prosecution urged the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Wednesday to convict Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic of participating in a joint criminal enterprise, along with other Serb political, military and police officials, aimed at forcibly removing non-Serbs from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during wartime.