Bosnian Serb found guilty of wartime rapes, torture

SARAJEVO, Nov 14 (Reuters) Bosnia's war crimes court today sentenced a former Bosnian Serb soldier to 16 years in prison for the serial rape, enslavement and torture of civilians in the 1992-95 Bosnia war.

Radovan Stankovic was the first defendant sent from the United Nations war crimes court in The Hague to be tried in Bosnia.

He was found guilty of running a brutal detention camp near the eastern town of Foca and of encouraging and assisting in the capture, torture, rape and killing of non-Serb civilians.

''He set up a detention centre in the Karaman House, where nine women were kept, most of them minors,'' said presiding judge Davorin Jukic.

''Two girls were 12 years old. One of them is still missing''.

Stankovic was found to have repeatedly raped, tortured and beaten the two girls for months, Jukic said. He offered other girls to Bosnian Serb soldiers, who raped and humiliated them.

Stankovic was not present during the ruling, and had been removed from court for most of the proceedings because of his behaviour and continued insults to the court.

The court heard testimonies from 14 protected witnesses.

Two rape victims faced Stankovic in court and identified him as the person in charge of the infamous Karaman House detention centre.

''We have hoped for a life sentence, he destroyed so many lives,'' cried Bakira Hasecic, the president of the Women-Victims of War association, after she had heard the ruling.

''But it seems it's better to be a criminal than a victim,'' added Hasecic, who was also a victim of wartime rape.

The town of Foca in eastern Bosnia has become a byword for the use of rape as an instrument of war in the conflict.

After Bosnian Serb forces took control of the town, they detained thousands of Muslim and Croat civilians, locking up women and pre-teen girls in makeshift detention centres.

The Hague court has already convicted three former Bosnian Serb commanders for war crimes in Foca.

It transferred Stankovic to Bosnia in 2005, the first of nine Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects sent over the past year under its new strategy of focusing on major suspects. The court is under pressure to close in 2010.

Reuters SY VV2234