Bosnian Serb jailed for Sarajevo war crimes

THE HAGUE – With the help of testimony from survivors of Sarajevo’s notorious ‘sniper alley’, the Serb commander of the siege of the Bosnian capital was convicted of war crimes yesterday and sentenced to 33 years in prison.

General Dragomir Milosevic orchestrated the closing 15 months of the 1992-1995 siege, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal ruled. It found him guilty of murder, inhumane treatment and overseeing a campaign of terror that indiscriminately lobbed shells and bombs into the city, killing thousands of civilians.”There was no safe place in Sarajevo,” said Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson, reading from the judgement.”One could be killed and injured anywhere and any time.”Alma Cutuna was one victim highlighted in the verdict.Shrapnel grazed her head and a sniper’s bullet severed an artery in her leg as she stood on a crowded tram in Sarajevo.The high-powered rifles of Bosnian Serb sharpshooters were supposed to be stilled by a cease-fire on that day, October 8 1994.But at noon, as the tram slowed to negotiate an S-shaped curve near the Holiday Inn hotel on the street known as Sniper Alley, shots rang out.One person was killed and 11 were wounded, including children shot while running near the tram.Emergency surgery saved Cutuna’s life.Milosevic, 65, sat silently listening to a summary of the lengthy judgement, then stood stoically as Robinson pronounced sentence.The horror of the Sarajevo siege was one of the darkest chapters of the Balkan wars that erupted as Yugoslavia crumbled in the early 1990s.It was also one of the best documented: Television images of shells slamming into buildings and women and children huddling behind slow-moving UN armoured cars to shelter from snipers were beamed around the world.Another notorious episode in the siege carried out by Milosevic’s troops was the shelling of Markale Market on August 28 1995, which killed 34 and injured 78.The former commander of 18 000 Bosnian Serb troops who besieged Sarajevo between August 1994 and November 1995 had denied all charges, arguing that the city was a battleground during the siege and his troops were carrying out legitimate military operations.Nampa-APIt found him guilty of murder, inhumane treatment and overseeing a campaign of terror that indiscriminately lobbed shells and bombs into the city, killing thousands of civilians.”There was no safe place in Sarajevo,” said Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson, reading from the judgement.”One could be killed and injured anywhere and any time.”Alma Cutuna was one victim highlighted in the verdict.Shrapnel grazed her head and a sniper’s bullet severed an artery in her leg as she stood on a crowded tram in Sarajevo.The high-powered rifles of Bosnian Serb sharpshooters were supposed to be stilled by a cease-fire on that day, October 8 1994.But at noon, as the tram slowed to negotiate an S-shaped curve near the Holiday Inn hotel on the street known as Sniper Alley, shots rang out.One person was killed and 11 were wounded, including children shot while running near the tram.Emergency surgery saved Cutuna’s life.Milosevic, 65, sat silently listening to a summary of the lengthy judgement, then stood stoically as Robinson pronounced sentence.The horror of the Sarajevo siege was one of the darkest chapters of the Balkan wars that erupted as Yugoslavia crumbled in the early 1990s.It was also one of the best documented: Television images of shells slamming into buildings and women and children huddling behind slow-moving UN armoured cars to shelter from snipers were beamed around the world.Another notorious episode in the siege carried out by Milosevic’s troops was the shelling of Markale Market on August 28 1995, which killed 34 and injured 78.The former commander of 18 000 Bosnian Serb troops who besieged Sarajevo between August 1994 and November 1995 had denied all charges, arguing that the city was a battleground during the siege and his troops were carrying out legitimate military operations.Nampa-AP