Franko Simatović
| Franko Simatović | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Frenki |
| Born |
1 February 1950 Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Allegiance |
State Security Service Serbia
|
| Years of service | 1978–2001 |
| Unit | Special Operations Unit |
Franko "Frenki" Simatović (Serbian Cyrillic: Франко "Френки" Симатовић, born 1 April 1950, Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia) was the head of the Serbian secret police of Slobodan Milošević, the Special Forces of State Security of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was the founder of the Special Operations Unit. Simatović was acquitted of all charges on 30 May 2013. However, it was reported in the New York Times that his acquittal and that of Jovica Stanišić had been overturned on 15 December 2015 by a United Nations' ICTY Appeals Chamber (presiding judge, Fausto Pocar).
Born in Belgrade, Simatović is an ethnic Croat. He was born to Lt. Col. Pero Simatović and Neda Winter, and was named after his grandfather Franko Winter, founder of a law firm in Bjelovar and an associate of Josip Broz Tito. Lt. Col. Pero Simatović was high-ranking officer in the Yugoslav People's Army, who graduated in British naval school after the Second World War. He was the Chief Personnel UNEF Hq. Gaza to the peacekeeping mission in Sinai during 1959.
Simatović was accused of committing atrocities against non-Serbs during the Yugoslav wars including persecution and murder. As part of Milan Martić's trial at the ICTY, Simatović was found to be part of a "joint criminal enterprise which aimed to create a Greater Serbia including parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina."
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