Bosnian Serb policemen jailed for Yugoslavia war crimes
Mico Stanisic arrives for his initial appearance at the War Crimes Tribunal on March 17, 2005 in The Hague, the Netherlands. Stanisic faces charges of crimes against humanity for his alleged individual criminal responsibility for not taking action against the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims in 1992.
Former Bosnian Serb policemen Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin were convicted of war crimes during the breakup of Yugoslavia more than 20 years ago.
Both Stanisic and Zupljanin were sentenced to 22 years in jail.
According to the Associated Press, Zupljanin stood with arms crossed as the judge read out his verdict and sentence, while Stanisic stood stoically as he heard his punishment.
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Stanisic was also interior minister of the Bosnian Serb republic and Zupljanin was a senior security official. The court said both former officials took part in a campaign to remove Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs from the region. They were convicted of crimes against humanity that included murder, torture, unlawful detention, deportation and plunder across Bosnia in 1992.
Some of their crimes occurred when Serb forces took over Prijedor, leading to more than 1,000 deaths, while others were taken to detention camps, including the notorious camp at Omarska, where detainees were raped and killed.
"Over 100 persons were executed in room three at Keraterm camp in one night around July 25 by Serb guards," according to a summary of the judgment read out by presiding Judge Burton Hall. "At Omarska camp … mass executions were held from late July onwards."
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