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Bosnian Serb War Criminal Faces Life Sentence
THE HAGUE, June 27 (News Agencies) - The prosecutor at the U.N. war crimes tribunal here requested on Wednesday a sentence of life imprisonment for Bosnian Serb General Radislav Krstic who is accused of masterminding the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslim civilians.
Krstic, 53, has been charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the murder of up to 8,000 Muslim men from Srebrenica, the worst atrocity of the Bosnian war.
A former right-hand man of then Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, Krstic was second-in-command of the Drina corps, which led the attack on Srebrenica, a U.N.-declared safe haven in eastern Bosnia that was under the protection of Dutch U.N. soldiers.
Prosecutor Mark Harmon said that Krstic was instrumental in "planning, instigating and ordering" mass executions in the Srebrenica area.
The Bosnian Serb general is the first suspect to go to trial for genocide -- the gravest of war crimes charges -- for his role in the Srebrenica massacre.
Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who remain at large, have also been indicted on charges of genocide for the Srebrenica massacre.
After Bosnian Serb troops overran Srebrenica on July 11 1995, 7,000 to 8,000 Muslims were murdered or disappeared from the enclave.
U.N. war crimes investigators have uncovered several mass graves at Srebrenica.
The court saw a heart-wrenching video of a woman from Srebrenica telling ICTY investigators how she was told to walk in a line towards a bus that would take her out of the enclave when soldiers took her young son. Krstic, dressed in a black suit, showed no emotion when the tearful account was shown.
Prosecutor Mark Harmon told the court that Krstic was instrumental in "planning, instigating and ordering" mass executions in the Srebrenica area that was under the control of his army unit, the Drina Corps.
Harmon's closing arguments were scheduled to continue through Wednesday, ending with the announcement of the actual sentence the prosecution is seeking in this case.
The defense will plead its case on Thursday and Friday. The court is expected to hand down a verdict before the end of July.
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