Momčilo Perišić

Momčilo Perišić (born 22 May 1944) is a Serbian former general who was Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army until 1998. On 6 September 2011, Perišić was found guilty for war crimes and crimes against humanity and was sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment. However, on 28 February 2013, the Appeal Chamber acquitted him of all charges.

Military career
He joined the Yugoslav People's Army and graduated from the military academy in 1966. When the conflict in the former Yugoslavia began, Momčilo Perišić was the commander of the Artillery School Centre in Zadar. He participated in the shelling of the city before leaving Croatia - as a consequence, he was sentenced in absence by a Croatian court to 20 years in prison for shelling Zadar, but Serbia never went on to arrest him. In January 1992, he was appointed commander of the newly established 13th Corps in the Bileca region. In June 1992, Momčilo Perišić was appointed Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Yugoslav 3rd Army based in Niš. He became its Commander in April 1993.

Trial at the Hague
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicted him in February 2005, in one of the last indictments of that Tribunal. According to the indictment, he was "exercising his authority, pursuant to the policies and limitations set by the Supreme Defence Council, to provide substantial military assistance to the Armies of Republika Srpska and Republic of Serbian Krajina, which he knew was used, in significant part, in the commission of the crimes". He surrendered in May that same year to face the charges.

He was indicted for murder, inhumane acts, persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, extermination, attacks on civilians for failing to stop his subordinates of committing the siege of Sarajevo, Zagreb rocket attack and Srebrenica massacre.

The trial ended in March 2011. The prosecutor alleged that crimes were committed by the VJ soldiers who had been transferred to the VRS and the SVK through the 30th and 40th Personnel Centers of the VJ General Staff. Perišić’s command position, his ability to issue and implement orders, to discipline those who committed crimes and to promote and discharge soldiers showed that he had effective control, the prosecutor argued. He sought life in prison for Perišić, while the defense argued that he should be acquitted of all charges.

On 6 September 2011 the court in The Hague ruled that Perišić will go to jail for 27 years. The judges, however, ruled that Perišić did not have effective control over Ratko Mladić and the VRS, but that he did have control over the SVK and failed to punish the responsible for shelling Zagreb. However, on 28 February 2013, the Appeal Chamber acquitted him of all charges because judges concluded that the military help the Yugoslav army provided to Serbs from Bosnia and Croatia was directed to support their general war efforts, not war crimes.