Bosnian Serbs convicted of Srebrenica genocide

A UN war crimes tribunal has meted out historic life sentences on two Bosnian Serb officers for genocide perpetrated in Bosnia 15 years ago.

The judges at The Hague convicted Ljubisa Beara and Vujadin Popovic for the slaughter of almost 8,000 Muslim males at Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia, in July 1995.

The verdict – which came almost four years after the start of the largest trial the tribunal has conducted – made it virtually inconceivable that Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader captured two years ago after 13 years on the run, can evade an identical conviction.

The judges ruled: "The scale and nature of the murder operation, with the staggering number of killings, the systematic and organised manner in which it was carried out, the targeting and relentless pursuit of the victims, and the plain intention – apparent from the evidence – to eliminate every Bosnian Muslim male who was captured or surrendered proves beyond reasonable doubt that this was genocide.

"In the context of the war in the former Yugoslavia, and in the context of human history, these events are arrestive in their scale and brutality."

The verdict rested on the judges' finding of "the plain intention to eliminate every Muslim male". The court has previously established that genocide occurred at Srebrenica, uniquely so far in the tribunal's rulings, but only one Bosnian Serb officer has previously been convicted of "aiding and abetting".

Beara and Popovic received life sentences for "genocide, extermination, murder, and persecution". The judges found they were key henchmen of the fugitive commander General Ratko Mladic, with Beara the driving force.

They said: "[ Beara] had the clearest overall picture of the massive scale of the killing operation. From his presence in [nearby] Bratunac on the night of 13 July, to his personal visits to the various detention and execution sites and the significant logistical challenges he faced throughout, Beara had a very personal view of the staggering number of victims destined for execution.

"His vigorous efforts to organise locations and sites, recruit personnel, secure equipment and oversee executions all evidence his grim determination to kill as many as possible as quickly as possible."

The judges jailed another senior officer, Drago Nikolic, for 35 years for aiding and abetting genocide.

Another four accused were found guilty of lesser crimes and received jail terms of up to 19 years. They included Milan Gvero, who was an aide to Mladic, and was spokesman for the Yugoslav army in Belgrade before the Bosnian war. He received five years for persecution and inhuman acts.

The judgment included findings that augur badly for Karadzic, who is also on trial for genocide and other war crimes and in defending himself has sought to belittle the Srebrenica massacre.

The judges asserted that the officers convicted of genocide were acting directly on his orders delivered in March 1995 when he, as president and supreme commander of the Bosnian Serbs, issued a chilling order to his troops preparing the Srebrenica offensive. The aim, Karadzic ordered, was to create "an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants".

The standard number of victims, who were taken away in buses or rounded up in the forests to be shot over the next 10 days is about 8,000, although the figures are contested .

The judges said that "at least 5,336 identified individuals were killed in the executions" but they considered the true figure "could well be as high as 7,826".

Mladic, Karadzic's sidekick, has been on the run for 15 years and is the most wanted man in Europe. His fugitive status is a major problem for Serbia's ambitions of joining the European Union.

His wife has just been arrested in Belgrade on charges of carrying weapons illegally and a fortnight ago Mladic's family demanded the Serbian authorities declare him dead.

Mladic oversaw the massacre, strutting into the enclave to taunt the Muslim inhabitants and the small group of Dutch peacekeepers who failed to protect what had been declared a UN safe haven.