UN court upholds life for two convicted in Srebrenica massacre
THE HAGUE - Agence France-Presse
Ljubisa Beara, right, enters the courtroom of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, Jan. 30, 2015.
The UN's Yugoslav war crimes court on Jan. 30 upheld life convictions of two Bosnian Serbs for their role in the Srebrenica massacre of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys in 1995.The Appeal Chamber "affirms the life sentence" against former Bosnian Serb Vujadin Popovic, 57, and Ljubisa Beara, 75, Judge Patrick Robinson said at a hearing at the Hague-based tribunal.
Both men are former officers in the Bosnian Serb army blamed for the mid-July 1995 massacre regarded as one the worst incidents of bloodshed on European soil since World War II.
The two men were sentenced to life on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity charges in 2010, together with five co-accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Four other army officers and a police official found guilty of war crimes were jailed for between five and 35 years. Three of the officers appealed their sentences.
The Appeals Chamber dismissed, unanimously or by majority, most of the appellants challenges in the case, which is the ICTY's largest completed case to date.
The case opened in The Hague in 2006 and has seen some 315 witnesses testify.
Twenty individuals have been indicted for crimes committed at Srebrenica, including former top Bosnian Serb politician Radovan Karadzic and his military partner general Ratko Mladic.
Both Karadzic, 69 and Mladic, 72 are currently on trial before the court.
