Franko Simatović

Franko "Frenki" Simatović (Belgrade, born 1 April 1950) is a Yugoslav former intelligence officer of Croat-Jewish descent who served as the Deputy Head of the Serbian State Security Service (RDB) during the Milošević regime. He was also the founder and commander of the elite Special Operations Unit (JSO), popularly known as the 'Frenkijevci' (Franki's guys), from 1991 to 1998. During his trial in The Hague, it was revealed that he acted as a long-standing CIA asset in Belgrade.

Simatović is, along with former head of the State Security Directorate (RDB) Jovica Stanišić being prosecuted for war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1991-1995, before the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He was initially acquitted on 30 May 2013 by the ICTY for his role in the wars but the verdict was later overturned on 15 December 2015 after successful appeal by the prosecutors (ICTY Appeals Chamber). The retrial before the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) commenced on 13 June 2017. On 30 June 2021, he was found guilty under counts of murder, deportation, forcible transfer and persecution as crimes against humanity that occurred during the Bosanski Šamac ethnic cleansing, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. On appeal, his sentence was increased to 15 years in 2023.