A former Bosnian Croat political leader has been sentenced to 25 years in jail for crimes against humanity today, the first senior politicianto be convicted by the UN war crimes court for former Yugoslavia.
Dario Kordic, once vice-president of the self-proclaimed BosnianCroat state, was found guilty of persecuting, killing and detainingMuslims in central Bosnia from late 1991 to 1994.
"The fact you were a politician and took no part in the actualexecution of the crimes makes no difference; you played your part assurely as the men who fired the guns," Judge Richard May told the Kordic.
"Indeed, the fact you were a leader aggravates the offences," thejudge said.
Kordic (40) was tried together with Bosnian Croat military commanderMario Cerkez, who received a 15-year sentence.
They were found guilty of involvement in a string of savage attackson Bosnian Muslims as part of a sustained campaign to create anethnically pure territory to be joined to Croatia.
Kordic was found guilty of ordering the notorious Ahmici villagemassacre in April 1993, in which Bosnian Croats murdered more than100 people before torching their homes.
He was convicted on 12 war crimes counts - including murder,persecution, hostage-taking, inhuman treatment and wantondestruction. Cerkez was found guilty on 15 counts. The pair had faced22 counts each.