THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal's trial chamber, chaired by a Zambian judge, Florence Mumba, on Friday sentenced Bosnian Serb Blagoje Simic to 17 years in prison for war crimes against and
persecution of local Croats and Muslims in the area of Bosanski Samac and Odzak, northern Bosnia, from 1992 to 1995.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The Hague-based UN war crimes
tribunal's trial chamber, chaired by a Zambian judge, Florence
Mumba, on Friday sentenced Bosnian Serb Blagoje Simic to 17 years in
prison for war crimes against and persecution of local Croats and
Muslims in the area of Bosanski Samac and Odzak, northern Bosnia,
from 1992 to 1995. #L#
According to the trial chamber's decision, another two indictees --
Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric -- were given eight and six years of
imprisonment for war crimes committed in that part of northern
Bosnia in said period.
The fifth amended indictment, issued in May 2002 against Simic,
Tadic and Zaric, reads that the three Bosnian Serbs were charged
with crimes against humanity they committed while persecuting
local citizens on political, racial and religious grounds. They
were also charged with serious breaches of the Geneva conventions,
namely with the forcible deportation of local citizens.
Tadic and Zaric surrendered voluntarily to the Hague-based
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
in February 1998, while Simic turned himself in in March 2001. They
entered a not-guilty plea at their initial appearances before the
tribunal.
Another two co-defendants, cited in the first indictment in this
case, Stevan Todorovic and Milan Simic, pleaded guilty under an
agreement with the prosecution, and were sentenced to ten and five
years in jail.
(hina) ms sb