Milan Bulic was charged with cruel treatment of Croatian prisoners of war held on the Ovcara farm outside the Danube river town of Vukovar in the autumn of 1991.
Bulic did not attend the sentencing hearing because of poor health.
Last December 14 of the 16 indicted former members of the Serb Territorial Defence of Vukovar and the Leva Supoderica paramilitary unit were given prison sentences. The separate trial of Sasa Radak, who was arrested in the spring of 2005, is in progress.