“I have to admit I am shocked by the ruling and its explanation because it is contrary to the facts that have so far been obvious,” Kandic told the Belgrade-based news agency Beta.

According to her, Serb paramilitary units in Croatia and Bosnia were not independent units armed without the consent of Serbia and its security agency.

The impression is that the court has established that the activities of these units were aimed exclusively at maintaining the Serb control of the war territory without the intent that these parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina be homogenized by the persecution of the non-Serb population and annexed to Serbia”, Kandic said stressing that in the final stage of its work, the ICTY was ignoring the obvious facts.

“It is absolutely clear that these units were formed with the purpose to commit war crimes,” Kandic said.

According to the Belgrade-based electronic media, Helsinki Committee president Biserko is also surprised by the acquittals.

“This is truly a big surprise to me, given the responsibility they had during the entire war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. After all, a lot of light had been shed on their role in the war during the Slobodan Milosevic trial,” Biserko told Beta.

Biserko also said that clearly the ICTY exit strategy was to amnesty all countries in the region and shift the responsibility to Croat and Bosnian Serbs.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday acquitted pending appeal the former chief of the Serbian State Security Service (SDB), Jovica Stanisic, and the former commander of the SDB special operations unit, Franko Simatovic, accused of war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina committed by Serb paramilitary units.