Zaric was convicted of beating and torturing non-Serb detainees and holding them under inhumane conditions.

THE HAGUE, October 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The U.N. war crimes court on Friday, October 17, convicted three Bosnian Serbs of crimes against humanity for joining hands in the persecution of Muslims and Croats in the Bosnian town of Bosanski Samac during the war.

Blagoje Simic, who ran the municipality of Bosanki Samac during the 1992-95 conflict, was sentenced to 17 years in jail while Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric were given eight years and six years respectively, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The three men all held positions of power in the municipality of Bosanski Samac after the town was taken over by Bosnian Serbs in April 1992.

The judges ruled Simic was part of a joint criminal enterprise whose common plan "was aimed at committing persecutions against non-Serbs including acts of unlawful arrest and detention, cruel and inhumane treatment including beatings and torture, ... deportation and forcible transfer".

"Simic as the president of the municipal council and the crisis staff was at the apex of the joint criminal enterprise at the municipal level", said presiding judge Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba.

Simic, dressed in a dark blue suit with a red tie, looked pale with eyes downcast as his sentence was pronounced.

According to the judges Tadic, a member of the crisis staff, and Zaric who belonged to a territorial defense unit, did not participate in the criminal enterprise but aided and abetted it.

Tadic was convicted of persecution because he contributed to the deportation of Croats and Muslims from Bosanski Samac while Zaric was convicted because he beat and tortured non-Serb detainees and held them under inhumane conditions.

In the months that followed the seizure of Bosanski Samac Bosnian Muslims and Croats were driven out, in a "widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population" read the ruling.

Tadic helped he deportation of Croats and Muslims from Bosanski Samac

Of the more than 30,000 Muslims and Bosnian Croats who lived in the town before the war in Bosnia broke out in 1992, fewer than 300 remained in 1995, statistics presented by the prosecution showed.

In all, the bloody wars in Bosnia left more than 200,000 people dead and many more were forced to flee their homes.

The prosecution has asked for sentences of up to 25 years on two counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The judges' decision on Friday was not unanimous but based on the majority.

Two judges concurred on the conviction and sentencing while the third offered a dissenting opinion.

Judge Per-Johan Vicor of Finland found that Simic was guilty of persecutions, but felt a lesser sentence of seven years appropriate whilst Tadic and Zaric should be acquitted in his opinion.

According to the rules of the U.N. court decisions can be rendered by majority and do not have to be unanimous.

Both the defense teams and the prosecution can appeal the sentence, but it was not clear if they would.

Two other Bosnian Serbs have already been sentenced for killings in Bosanski Samac after they pleaded guilty.

Stevan Todorovic was sentenced to 10 years while Milan Simic is serving a five-year sentence.