Background
Stanišić was born in the village of Ponor, near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Stanišić was born in the village of Ponor, near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He graduated from the Sarajevo Law School.
From 21 December 1991, Stanišić was Minister Without Portfolio of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina which was named by the Assembly of the Serbian People of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 1 April 1992, he was the Minister of the newly established Republika Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bosnia-Herzegovina. During the Yugoslav wars he organized the Pahuljice Special Police Unit (Snowflakes) that battled in Republika Srpska under commander Dušan Malović, a notable Serbian mafioso connected with the Voždovac Clan.
Stanišić surrendered himself to the Hague Tribunal on 11 March 2005.
He is standing trial for persecution of non-Serbs of 20 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 27 March 2013 Stanišić was sentenced to 22 years in jail by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.