UN war crimes tribunal reduces sentence of convicted former Bosnian Serb general

The Appeals Chamber of the United Nations tribunal set up to deal with the worst crimes committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s today cut four years off the 33-year sentence imposed on a former Bosnian Serb army general who commanded much of the siege of Sarajevo.

Dragomir Milošević, who is not related to the former Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, was convicted in 2007 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), based in The Hague.

He was found guilty on five counts of murder, inflicting terror and committing inhumane acts during a campaign of sniping and shelling, which resulted in the injury and death of a large number of civilians in the Bosnian capital during the second half of the 1992-1995 siege.

The Appeals Chamber ruled today that, “whereas the evidence cited in the Trial Judgement does not support a finding that Milošević planned and ordered the sniping incidents, his command responsibility for having failed to prevent and punish the said crimes committed by his subordinates has been established beyond reasonable doubt.”

The Chamber upheld the majority of the Trial Chamber’s convictions for ordering the shelling of the civilian population in Sarajevo during the 15-month period, while also granting Mr. Milošević’s appeal in part and reducing his sentence from 33 to 29 years’ imprisonment.

The Prosecution’s request that Mr. Miloševic, who is in his late sixties, be sentenced to life imprisonment was dismissed in its entirety.