(Vatican Radio) A United Nations court has sentenced former Bosnian Serb general Zdravko
Tolimir to life imprisonment for crimes committed during the Balkan war in the mid-1990s,
including his involvement in killing thousands of Muslims. After more than five years
in detention, the 64-year-old Zdravko Tolimir was told he would spend the rest of
his life behind bars. Judges at the United Nations tribunal in The Hague, voting
2 to 1, found him guilty of playing a key role in the massacre in the Bosnian town
of Srebrenica. Some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces
captured the town in 1995. It was Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two. Tolimir
was called the “right hand man and eyes and ears” of Bosnian Serb military commander
Ratko Mladic during a conflict that killed 100,000 people. Mladic himself is also
on trial at the UN court. Tolimir argued that he didn't know about the atrocities
and wasn't even there. Yet, presiding judge Christoph Flügge, of Germany, disagreed
saying there was prove that Tolimir knew what happened. As an example the judge
said the court learned that Tolimir called-off a prison to be prepared for thousands
of men from Srebrenica. "The majority has found that the accused in ordering that
the preparstions should be stopped had knowledge that these men would be murdered
instead," Flügge said calmly. Wednesday's verdict was the fifth conviction for
genocide by the tribunal dealing with crimes after the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.
Two former Bosnian Serb officers, both subordinates of Tolimir, were given life
sentences. Two other Bosnian Serbs are serving 35-year prison terms for aiding and
abetting genocide. Listen to this report by Stefan Bos