On March 10, 2008, almost two years to the day after former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic died, the trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko "Frenki" Simatovic is expected to start before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). But this trial, which could help establish the link between Belgrade and the Bosnian Serbs who perpetrated the Srebrenica massacre, is likely to be something of a sideshow. At the time, Stanisic was head of the Serbian State Security Service and Simatovic commanded a Special Operations Unit within the Intelligence Administration. Both Serbs were allegedly operating under the authority of Belgrade, Stanisic more openly than Simatovic. Their indictment covers a long period from April 1991 to December 1995. It thus includes violent acts committed at the start of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, as well as the fall of the Srebrenica enclave in July 1995. The two men are accused of having been part of a criminal enterprise which included, among others, Milosevic, Serb paramilitary leader Vojislav Seselj (currently on trial at The Hague [IJT-77]), former Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic (serving an 11- year prison sentence) and her predecessor Radovan Karadzic (still at large). The two defendants are held responsible for the establishment and running of illegal armed units like the Red Berets, Arkan's Tigers and the Scorpions [IJT-66]. These paramilitary units were mentioned countless times in the many trials before the ICTY. Both Stanisic and Simatovic were mentioned by witnesses and experts for their alleged pivotal role, from Vukovar to Bijeljina and from Zvornik to Kosovo.

The June 2005 broadcast of a video in which members of the Scorpions summarily executed Muslims in Srebrenica resulted in an amendment of the indictment against Stanisic and Simatovic [IJT-27]. The prosecution added an extensive Srebrenica chapter, charging the two Serbs with the downfall of the enclave and the subsequent massacre of more than 8,000 Bosniak men. On December 20, 2005, a new amendment seemed to place the Red Berets and the Scorpions in the center of the persecutions and murders. After protests by the defense against this very broad new charge, the prosecution responded that "it was not alleged that the accused helped plan the mass murders in Srebrenica, only that the units of the Serbian DB (state security service) participated in the murder of six Muslim prisoners after the capture of the Srebrenica enclave". In the end, Srebrenica seems only a footnote in the indictment.

Provisional release

Transferred to The Hague in June 2003, both men were granted provisional release in July 2004. Despite their strong ties to the Serbian State Security Service and the fact that at the time of his transfer Simatovic was being held by Serbian authorities in relation to Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic's assassination, the Chamber did not find any risk in sending them back to Serbia. Judge Robinson is the presiding judge in this case. He presided over Milosevic trial in which Dragan Vasiljkovic, a former Red Beret trainer, had dramatically changed his testimony after receiving a telephone call from "Frenki".

Whether their relative freedom will prove to have affected the prosecution's case, as the prosecutor suspected, remains to be seen. But, just before the beginning of the trial, the prosecution weathered another blow. On February 4, the Trial Chamber decided that the prosecution will not be allowed to present evidence regarding a third of the alleged facts, concluding that the remaining charges are "reasonably representative" of the crimes and the targeted ethnic groups. In this context, it remains to be seen whether this important case will be handled as an afterthought—a job the ICTY is obligated to finish—or a final demonstration of the Serbian responsibility in the violence that ignited the whole of the former Yugoslavia.