War criminal given `fear' compensation

Sarajevo - Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation is to pay almost $10,000 (£6,900) in damages to a former Bosnian Serb soldier who…

Sarajevo - Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation is to pay almost $10,000 (£6,900) in damages to a former Bosnian Serb soldier who is serving a 40-year jail sentence for war crimes, a senior law officer said.

Ms Seada Palavric, the legal attorney of the federation, said Sretko Damjanovic, who was originally sentenced to death, was being compensated for being subjected to the fear of execution. She said he should by now have received the money.

The case has provoked outrage in the federation, with Sarajevo media demanding to know who will compensate Bosnian citizens for their fear and suffering through 43 months of war.

Damjanovic was sentenced to death in 1993 by a military court in Sarajevo after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against civilians and prisoners of war while fighting for Serb forces around Sarajevo the previous year.