Stojan Župljanin (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Стојан Жупљанин; born 28 September 1951) is a former

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

police commander. Župljanin was born in Maslovare, a village in the

Kotor Varoš Kotor Varoš ( sr-cyrl, Котор Варош) is a town and municipality located in north-western Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013 census, it has a population of 19,710 inhabitants, while the town of Kotor Varo ...

municipality in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. As commander of the Bosnian Serb police during the

Bosnian war The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, Župljanin had operational control over the police forces responsible for the detention camps where thousands of prisoners were held in horrific conditions and many were murdered. Župljanin is also alleged to have played a central role in the destruction of

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

and

Bosnian Croat The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (), often referred to as Bosnian Croats () or Herzegovinian Croats () are the third most populous ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ethnic group in the country after Bosniaks and Serbs of Bosnia and H ...

communities in the

Autonomous Region of Krajina The Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Bosanska Krajina ( sr, Српска aутономна област Босанска Крајина, Srpska autonomna oblast Bosanska Krajina) was a self-proclaimed Serbian Autonomous Oblast within today's Bosnia a ...

. On 14 March 1999 he was charged by the

ICTY The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

with

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

, violations of the

laws and customs of war The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...

and breaches of the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...

. In October 2005, Župljanin's home was raided by local police and by EU peacekeepers, but they failed to find him. He was arrested on 11 June 2008 not far from

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and extradited to the ICTY, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges. On 27 March 2013, Župljanin was convicted for crimes against humanity and sentenced to 22 years in jail by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.Profile
bbc.co.uk; accessed 15 May 2015.

Indictment

Under the terms of the indictment, Stojan Zupljanin is charged on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility (Art. 7 § 1 ICTY Statute) and on the basis of his criminal responsibility as hierarchical superior (Art. 7 § 3 ICTY Statute) for: Two counts of genocide (Art. 4 ICTY Statute): * genocide and

complicity in genocide Complicity in genocide is illegal under international law both for individuals, as part of international criminal law, and state parties to the Genocide Convention. The latter was first held in the Bosnian genocide case (2007) in which the Internati ...

. Five counts of crimes against humanity (Art. 5 ICTY Statute): * persecutions * extermination * torture * expulsion * inhumane acts (forcible transfer). Two counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (Art. 3 ICTY Statute): * wanton destruction or devastation of towns or villages not justified by military necessity, * destruction or willful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion. Three counts of serious violations of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (Art. 2 ICTY Statute): * willful murder, * torture, * the appropriation or plunder of property not justified by military necessity and carried out on a large scale and in an illicit and arbitrary manner.

Notes

External links

*
Stojan Župljanin: Hague Justice Portal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zupljanin, Stojan 1951 births Living people People from Kotor Varoš Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted of crimes against humanity People of the Bosnian War People convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina police officers People extradited from Serbia