Galic, a former commander of the Bosnian Serb Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was the first indictee to be tried by the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal in connection with the 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital. During the Serb siege of the city, 10,500 Sarajevans were killed.
"The sentence of only 20 years was so unreasonable and plainly unjust, in that it underestimated the gravity of Galic's criminal conduct," presiding judge Fausto Pocar said on Thursday explaining the appeals chamber's decision.
According to a press release on the tribunal's web site, "the Appeals Chamber dismissed all 19 grounds of appeal by Galic, including those which claimed that Trial Chamber wrongly convicted him of the 'acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which was to spread terror among the civilian population' of Sarajevo. The Appeals Chamber allowed the appeal by the Prosecution on the length of sentence, quashing the Trial Chamber sentence of 20 years."
The Appeals Chamber noted that "the Trial Chamber relied on a plethora of evidence to demonstrate that terrorisation of the civilian population was the primary purpose of the campaign of sniping and shelling and that Galic, who held the position of commander of the Bosnian Serb Army Sarajevo-Romanija Corps (SRK), had the intent to spread terror among the civilian population."
"In the findings upheld by the Appeals Chamber, the Trial Chamber established that the evidence demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that Sarajevo civilians were indeed made the object of deliberate attack by SRK forces. They were attacked while attending funerals, while in ambulances, trams, and buses, and while cycling. They were attacked while tending gardens, or shopping in markets, or clearing rubbish in the city. Children were targeted while playing or walking in the streets. These attacks were mostly carried out in daylight. They were not in response to any military threat. The attackers could for the most part easily tell that their victims were engaged in everyday civilian activities," reads the press release.