On December 15, 2015, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Appeal’s Chamber ordered a retrial for two Serbian officials, who had been acquitted in 2013 for failure to prove their crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.  According to the press release, Stanišić and Simatović had been accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise, which had committed a number of crimes with the “purpose of . . . the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs” from certain areas. The indictment alleges that they were involved in the planning and execution of “murder as a violation of the laws or customs of war and as a crime against humanity as well as deportation, other inhumane acts (forcible transfer), and persecution (through murder, deportation, and other inhumane acts (forcible transfer)) as crimes against humanity.” The Trial Chamber ruled in 2013 that there was not sufficient proof that Stanišić and Simatović had acted with “the requisite intent to further the common criminal purpose,” without addressing the essential elements of joint criminal enterprise liability or discussing the existence of a common criminal purpose and the defendants’ contributions. The Appeals Chamber disagreed with this approach, finding that “[i]n the absence of a thorough analysis and prior findings on the existence and scope of a common criminal purpose shared by a plurality of persons as well as on Stanišić’s and Simatović’s contribution to it, the Trial Chamber could not have properly adjudicated Stanišić’s and Simatović’s mens rea.” The Appeals Chamber further reaffirmed “that ‘specific direction’ is not an element of aiding and abetting liability under customary international law, and found, by majority, that the Trial Chamber erred in law in requiring that the acts of the aider and abettor be specifically directed to assist the commission of a crime.”