THE HAGUE (AFP) — The UN war crimes court on Wednesday convicted Bosnian Serb general Dragomir Milosevic of terrorising the people of Sarajevo during the siege of the Bosnian capital, and jailed him for 33 years.
The judges ruled that troops under Milosevic's command shelled Sarajevo and directed sniper fire against civilians, spreading terror among the inhabitants as they queued for bread, went to market or were simply walking with their children.
"There was no safe place in Sarajevo. One could be killed and injured anywhere and anytime," Judge Patrick Robinson of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said.
He recalled the testimony of one witness that when her daughters returned from collecting water or firewood she would often find they had "soiled their clothes because of the fear they had".
Milosevic -- no relation to the late Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic-- spent 15 months in charge of the Bosnian Serb troops laying siege to the Bosnian capital.
According to the judges Milosevic "held a tight chain of command" and "decided on matters such as replenishment of ammunition, the placement of mortars and the training of snipers".
The siege of Sarajevo lasted a total of 44 months -- the longest such blockade in post-World War II Europe -- from April 1992 until November 1995.
Judge Robinson stressed that the very role of snipers required that any shot they take is "deliberate, intended to kill or seriously injure the target".
The judge particularly recalled the sniping of trams in front of Sarajevo's Holiday Inn hotel, a location known as "Sniper Alley".
"Nothing illustrates more graphically the intent of the perpetrators and the victimisation of the passengers" than the footage of trams slowing down to take a curve near the hotel "and being deliberately targetted while it was doing so", the judges said.
"The tram and its passengers were virtually sitting ducks or in the words of a witness 'clay pigeons'."
Human rights organisations estimate that nearly 12,000 people including 1,500 children died during the blockade.
Milosevic, 65, was found guilty of terror, a war crime, as well as murder, inhumane acts and crimes against humanity. He showed no emotion as he was convicted and sentenced.
Throughout the trial he maintained his innocence. His defence team argued that the whole of Sarajevo was a legitimate military target and said many people were killed in fighting between the two sides.
Although the prosecution had called for a life sentence for Milosevic they welcomed the verdict.
"We are happy that we could prove in court that he was guilty," prosecution spokeswoman Olga Kavran told AFP.
The prosecution will study the verdict before deciding whether or not to appeal, she added.
Milosevic's predecessor as commander of Bosnian Serb forces in Sarajevo, Stanislav Galic, became the first - and so far only - person to be jailed for life by the appeals chamber of the UN court in November on similar charges.
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