According to the judgment, the appeals judges said that Jovica Stanisic, the ex-chief of Serbia’s state security service (DB), and his deputy Franko Simatovic, were mistakenly acquitted of five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the early 1990s amid the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
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Prosecutors said they took part in a criminal plan to drive non-Serbs out of parts of Bosnia and Croatia.
They have been formally charged with taking part in a campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at driving non-Serbs out of parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.
Former Serbian President Slobodan Milosovic was tried by the United Nations war crimes tribunal, although he died in detention in 2006 prior to a verdict.
Jurisprudence at the court has since stated that “specific direction” is not a necessary element of aiding and abetting.
Trial judges also said there was not enough evidence linking the men to a joint criminal enterprise.
Dressed in charcoal suits, both men listened without emotion as the judge read out the ruling.
There was no immediate word on when the new trial would start.
The ICTY prosecution filed an appeal, and the chamber this week ruled that there had been serious legal errors in the original trial.
It is only the second time in the court’s 23-year history that an acquittal has been overturned on appeal, court officials said.
Judge Pocar’s order comes as the UN-funded tribunal in The Hague is under pressure to complete its remaining cases and close down.
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Munira Subasic, the head of the organization “Mothers of Srebrenica” which gathers widows of the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, welcomed the decision.
