On 26 February 2001 Kordic, former Croat political leader in central Bosnia-Herzegovina, was sentenced to 25 and Cerkez, commander of the Croatian Defence Council's Vitez Brigade, to 15 years' imprisonment for crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
The crimes were committed through the persecution, killing, detention and mistreatment of Bosnian Muslims in Lasva Valley from late 1991 to April 1994.
The indictment and the verdict focused on the establishment of their responsibility for the killing of more than 100 Muslims in Ahmici, a village near the central Bosnian town of Vitez, in April 1993.
Kordic and Cerkez have been in detention since 6 October 1997, when they voluntarily surrendered. Their trial began on 12 April 1999, while closing arguments were made on 14 and 15 December 2000.