Srebrenica Jail Sentences: 630 Years and Counting

In the 20 years since the biggest crime on European soil since World War II, the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague has convicted 14 people of crimes against Srebrenica’s Bosniaks in July 1995. With four more high-profile trials still ongoing as the anniversary approaches this month, that number could still rise further.

Three of those convicted by the Hague Tribunal were given life sentences – two former officers at the Bosnian Serb Army’s Main Headquarters, Zdravko Tolimir and Ljubisa Beara, as well as former Bosnian Serb Army Drina Corps security officer Vujadin Popovic.

The killings of over 7,000 Bosniak men and boys and the deportation of 25,000 women and children from the United Nations-designated ‘safe area’ of Srebrenica after it fell to Bosnian Serb forces were first labelled genocide in 2004 in the Hague Tribunal verdict convicting former Drina Corps chief of staff Radislav Krstic.

The Tribunal found that the result of the killing operation in Srebrenica was the annihilation of the Bosniak population in the town.

“The appeals chamber calls the massacre in Srebrenica by its real name – genocide. Those responsible will carry this stigma, and it will serve as a warning to all those who in future contemplate the commission of such a heinous act,” said judge Theodor Meron in the verdict. Krstic was jailed for 35 years.

The verdict found that the crime in Srebrenica was planned by the highest officers of the Bosnian Serb Army – and that those most responsible were the staff of the Main Headquarters and the Drina Corps command.

“VRS [Bosnian Serb Army] units were engaged in detention, transport and execution of Bosnian Muslims, including the members of the Drina Corps, the Bratunac and Zvornik Brigades and the 10th Sabotage Unit,” the verdict stated.

“The participation of so many units shows the extent to which the process was planned, and the participation of the Sabotage Unit specifically shows that the VRS General Staff was directly involved in this operation,” it added.

The Hague Tribunal has acquitted just one person of Srebrenica crimes – former Yugoslav People’s Army general Momcilo Perisic – while former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic died during his trial.

There are still three ongoing trials of people allegedly involved in the Srebrenica massacres. Two of them are former Serbian security officers, Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, and the other two are former Bosnian Serb political and military leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

Bosnian sentences

Over the past decade, the Bosnian state court has sentenced a total of 23 people to 440 years in prison for Srebrenica crimes.

The only person to have been convicted of genocide is former Bosnian Serb Aemy Zvornik Brigade officer Milorad Trbic, who was sentenced to the maximum punishment of 20 years in prison under the old Yugoslav criminal code.

Trbic, the former Zvornik Brigade chief of security, was found guilty last year of taking part or assisting the killings of men from Srebrenica in different locations in the Zvornik region – the Branjevo farm, the cultural centre in Pilica, and schools in Orahovac, Rocevic and Petkovci.

“Trbic summarily executed dozens of men in order to intimidate, contain and control the other prisoners,” the verdict stated.

It added: “The chamber is aware that very rarely would a person admit to having a special intent to destroy an entire group, but based on the evidence, it is clear that the defendant had this intent.”

The first executions of Bosniaks took place in Bratunac, and the Bosnian court sentenced Mladen Blagojevic to seven years in prison for shooting prisoners who were being held in the Vuk Karadzic School in the town.

The largest number of convictions by the Bosnian court have been in connection to the killings of over 1,000 Bosniaks in a hangar in the village of Kravica on July 13, 1995. The court has convicted 11 individuals of being involved in this massacre, mostly members of the Bosnian Serb special police forces.

The longest sentence handed down by the Sarajevo-based court, 35 years in prison, was for Franc Kos, a former member of the Tenth Reconnaissance Division of the Bosnian Serb Army Main Headquarters for the killings of several hundred Bosniaks at Branjevo farm.

“We killed groups of ten people who the military police removed from buses. The prisoners from the first two buses had their arms tied and were blindfolded. It took us an hour to kill one group from the bus,” said Kos in his testimony before the court.

Slavko Peric, the deputy commander for security of the Zvornik Brigade’s 1st Battalion, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role in the crimes in Pilica, where Bosniaks were held before being transferred to the Branjevo farm.

Five more former Bosnian Serb fighters admitted they were guilty of involvement in Srebrenica crimes at the Sarajevo court and were sentenced to a total of 39 years. Fourteen individuals have been acquitted and there are five ongoing cases.

The total jail time of around 630 years appears unlikely to be the final tally.