BRUSSELS - A Bosnian Croat political leader has been jailed for 25 years for planning a bloody campaign of ethnic cleansing against Muslims in the 1990s, in a landmark ruling by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Dario Kordic became the first senior politician to have been convicted of war crimes by the court.
He was found guilty of masterminding a catalogue of murders including the April 1993 massacre at Ahmici.
During that savage assault, designed to drive Muslims from the area, families were shot dead in their homes and survivors were burnt alive.
The conviction is significant for the prosecutor at the UN's war crimes tribunal which has been investigating politicians and senior generals responsible for atrocities as well as foot soldiers.
It may also increase tension in Zagreb, Croatia's capital, where there was a public backlash against a 45-year sentence given to the military commander Timohir Blaskic for his role in the ethnic cleansing.
Judge Richard May said that the crimes committed by Kordic and the Bosnian Croat military commander Mario Cerkez, who received a 15-year sentence, were "characterised by ruthlessness and savagery".
"The fact that you [Kordic] were a politician and took no part in the actual execution of the crimes makes no difference," the judge said.
"You played your part as surely as the men who fired the guns. Indeed, the fact you were a leader aggravates the offences."
Bosnian Croat politician jailed for instigating massacre
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.