Former Bosnian Serb general Dragomir Milosevic was sentenced by the UN war crimes tribunal Wednesday to 33 years in prison for crimes against civilians during the siege of Sarajevo.
Milosevic was found guilty of crimes against humanity and of a violation of the laws or customs of war, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said.
It was one of the toughest verdicts handed down by the UN court since it was established in the Hague by a resolution of the UN Security Council in 1993.
Milosevic was convicted on five counts of terror, murder and inhumane acts conducted during a campaign of sniping and shelling which resulted in the injury and death of a great number of civilians in the besieged Bosnian capital, the court said.
Two counts of unlawful attacks against civilians were dismissed.
In the summary of its judgement, the Trial Chamber of the court said that Milosevic's army encircled and entrapped the city of Sarajevo over a 15-month period up to the end of the conflict in November 1995, using several methods in its campaign, including snipers and mortars.
"There was no safe place in Sarajevo; one could be killed or injured anywhere and anytime," the court was once told by a witness.
The use of mortars was found to have caused many deaths and injuries among local civilians, yet served no military purpose, the court said.
The siege of Sarajevo lasted a total of 44 months, from April 1992 until November 1995, but Milosevic committed the crimes during the final months after he took over command of the Bosnian Serb troops laying siege to the Bosnian capital.
Milosevic, who surrendered to the UN war crimes tribunal in December 2004, had pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence.
The trial began in January 2007 with closing arguments taking place in October.
Source: Xinhua/agencies
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