Two Bosnian Serbs Get 22 Years for War Crimes

The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal today convicted two senior Bosnian Serbs of playing key roles in a campaign of murder, torture, and persecution against Muslims and Croats during the 1992-'95 Bosnian war, and sentenced them each to 22 years in prison. Mico Stanisic was the interior minister in the breakaway Bosnian Serb republic, while Stojan Zupljanin was a senior security official in charge of police. Prosecutors at the Hague had sought life sentences for both men.

Zupljanin stood and crossed himself as the verdict was read, while Stanisic stood stoically. Both were convicted of persecution and murder. Zupljanin was additionaly convicted on a third charge, extermination, in part because he set up a notorious police unit that the court ruled had raped, tortured, and murdered Muslims and Croats—and deliberately shielded police prosecution in at least two massacres of Muslims. (More Serbia stories.)