THE HAGUE, Aug 2 (Hina) - The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday sentenced Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic to 46 years in prison for the massacre and persecution of thousands
of Srebrenica Muslims between July 10 and 19, 1995. Krstic was found guilty of genocide, and the persecution and killing of Muslim civilians. This was the first ICTY conviction of genocide. General Krstic (53) sat calm as the Portuguese Judge Almiro Rodrigues, who presided over the trial chamber, read the sentence. The trial chamber established that the initial plan of ethnic cleansing after the fall of the UN-protected Srebrenica area in eastern Bosnia turned into a plan for the extermination of the local population - genocide. Explaining the harsh sentence, Judge Rodrigues said the trial chamber wanted to show there are people in the former Yugoslav areas who are more responsibl
THE HAGUE, Aug 2 (Hina) - The Hague-based International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday sentenced
Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic to 46 years in prison for the
massacre and persecution of thousands of Srebrenica Muslims
between July 10 and 19, 1995. Krstic was found guilty of genocide,
and the persecution and killing of Muslim civilians.
This was the first ICTY conviction of genocide. General Krstic (53)
sat calm as the Portuguese Judge Almiro Rodrigues, who presided
over the trial chamber, read the sentence.
The trial chamber established that the initial plan of ethnic
cleansing after the fall of the UN-protected Srebrenica area in
eastern Bosnia turned into a plan for the extermination of the local
population - genocide.
Explaining the harsh sentence, Judge Rodrigues said the trial
chamber wanted to show there are people in the former Yugoslav areas
who are more responsible for that crime.
Besides Krstic, also accused for the Srebrenica massacre are
General Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander, and
former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who are both at
large.
The indictment charged Krstic for genocide, crimes against
humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. In June, the
Hague prosecutors demanded a life sentence for Krstic's role in the
execution and persecution of thousands of Srebrenica Muslims.
The harshest ICTY sentence to this day was passed for the former
commander of the Central Bosna operative zone, General Tihomir
Blaskic, who received 45 years in jail on commanding responsibility
for crimes against humanity in the wake of a 1993 massacre of a
hundred Muslims in Ahmici village in central Bosnia.
Krstic was a commander of the Drina Corps which, along with other
Bosnian Serb forces, attacked Srebrenica. After Srebrenica's fall
on July 11, 1995, 7,000 to 8,000 Muslims were either massacred or
are considered missing.
(hina) np ha