Jovica Stanišić (Јован Станишић) (born July 30, 1950 in Ratkovo village near Odžaci, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a former head of the State Security Service now BIA within the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. He is facing trial at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for his role in the wars in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During his service he acted in the role of a CIA agent[1].
Stanišić was arrested by Serbian authorities in 2003 and handed over to the ICTY soon after. Stanišić pleaded not guilty to all charges. His case is being processed together with that of Franko Simatović. He has been charged with persecution, murder, deportation and inhumane acts.[2] According to the indictment, special paramilitary units, including Arkan's Tigers, Red Berets and "Scorpions", were secretly established by or with the assistance of the Serbian State Security from no later than April 1991 and continued until 1995. They were established for the purpose of undertaking special military actions in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, intended to forcibly remove non-Serbs from those areas.[2] These secret units were trained in various training centres and were then deployed to locations in Croatia and Bosnia were they were subordinated to other "Serb Forces", in particular the local Serb Territorial Defence.[2] He and Simatović are charged with the following crimes:[2]
Croatia
Bosnia
Part of the charge, that Stanišić was part of a "joint criminal enterprise" including former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević and other Serbian politicians, was concluded the trial of Milan Martić.[3] The court accused him of "attempting to create a Greater Serbia using the areas containing the Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats." The United States Central Intelligence Agency submitted a sealed document to the court attesting to his role as an undercover operative helping to bring peace to the region.[1]
The family of Stanišić originate from Montenegro, descending from the Bjelopavlići.[4]