BOSNIAN SERB SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR WAR CRIMES

SARAJEVO, Apr 13 (Hina) - The Sarajevo Canton Court on Tuesday ruled Bosnian Serb Goran Vasic was guilty of war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, and sentenced him to a ten-year imprisonment. Vasic was however acquitted of the charge that he killed Hakija Turajlic, the Deputy Premier of the then Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in January 1993. Explaining the court's decision, the chairwoman of the panel of judges, Judge Amira Rizvic, said there was no strong evidence indicating that Vasic was responsible for the Turajlic murder. Canton prosecutor Mustafa Bisic said he would file a complaint on the acquittal as well as on the punishment ruled for the war crimes charge. Vasic was arrested by Sarajevo police last year in a special operation launched in the vicinity of the inter-entity boundary line towards the Bosnian Serb entity, on suspicion that he had personally killed Turajlic. Turajlic was killed when members of the Bosnian Serb army stopped an armoured vehicle with United Nations insignia which was driving Turajlic from the Sarajevo airport to downtown Sarajevo. Several witnesses later claimed Turajlic had been shot by Vasic. The case was conducted with consent from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. (hina) ha jn