13 November 2009 / REUTERS, AMSTERDAM
The Yugoslavia tribunal upheld its verdict against a former Bosnian Serb general for war crimes committed while he commanded the army during the 43-month siege of Sarajevo that killed 10,000 people.
Dragomir Milosevic had appealed the conviction, but the appeals chamber at the Hague court upheld most counts against him. But it reduced his sentence to 29 years in prison from 33 after finding he was not liable for several shelling incidents. “Milosevic did more than merely tolerate the crimes as a commander,” said presiding Judge Fausto Pocar. “In maintaining and intensifying the campaign directed at the civilian population in Sarajevo...he provided additional encouragement to his subordinates to commit the crimes against the civilians.” The tribunal rejected the prosecution’s appeal for life imprisonment. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was set up in 1993 to try those responsible for crimes committed during the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia in fighting between Serbs, Croats and Muslims.
