Bosnian Serb politician jailed for 27 years

THE HAGUE, Sep 27 (Reuters) The UN tribunal sentenced Bosnian Serb politician Momcilo Krajisnik today to 27 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Judge Alphons Orie pronounced him guilty of murder, extermination, deportation, persecution and forced transfer of non-Serb civilians, but said Krajisnik did not have the specific intent necessary to be found guilty of genocide.

Krajisnik, a former right-hand man to Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, went on trial in February 2004 charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and violating the laws or customs of war.

Krajisnik, captured by NATO-led peacekeepers near Sarajevo in 2000, pleaded not guilty to all counts. Defence lawyers had called for Krajisnik's acquittal, saying witness testimony against him was not credible.

''Mr Krajisnik wanted the Muslim and Croat populations moved out of Bosnian-Serb territories in large numbers, and accepted that a heavy price of suffering, death and destruction was necessary to achieve Serb domination,'' Judge Orie said.

Krajisnik was one of the most senior politicians on trial in The Hague since the death earlier this year of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, just months before his marathon trial had been expected to conclude.

Krajisnik, 61, headed the parliament of the breakaway Bosnian Serb republic during the war, and was part of the presidency together with Karadzic and former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic.

Plavsic, who admitted responsibility for atrocities in the Bosnia war and was jailed for 11 years in 2004, testified against Krajisnik earlier this year.

Karadzic, who is still on the run, is charged with responsibility for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims and the brutal siege of Sarajevo.

Reuters AB GC1900