By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Bosnia’s highest war-crimes court has sentenced 42-year-old Božidar Kuvelja to 20 years in jail for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre in which over 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men were killed.  Although Kuvelja was found guilty of crimes against humanity, the court acquitted him of genocide.

Towards the end of the Bosnian war, in which about 100,000 people died, the east Bosnian city of Srebrenica, which had been under the protection of the U.N., fell to the forces of Serb General Ratko Mladic.  (Mladic and his wartime political master, Radovan Karadzic, are currently standing trial on charges including genocide before the U.N at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.)

In the worst mass execution in Europe since World War II, Muslim civilian families living in the Srebrenica ghetto were rounded up, and the men, boys, and elderly were separated from the women and children, killed, and their bodies dumped into mass graves.  Many of the women were brutally raped.

The court found that Kuvelja, an officer in a special Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry police brigade, took part in the rounding up of Bosnian Muslim civilians, searching houses for Muslims to take to collection points where men and women were separated.

He further transported detainees to dozens of execution sites, which included a warehouse in Kravica, said the court.  “Members of Kuvelja’s brigade fired from automatic weapons and threw hand grenades into the packed warehouse” the court concluded.  Those who survived the initial onslaught were lured out of the warehouse for medical treatment, where instead they were forced to sing nationalist Serbian songs while Kuvelja’s brigade fired upon them, presiding judge Jasmina Kosovic said.  The court even found that Kuvelja finished off with a pistol those on the pile still showing signs of life.

Kuvelja, who had only joined the brigade shortly before the Srebrenica massacre, pleaded “not guilty.”

“Kuvelja is convicted of taking part in the persecution and forced removal of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) from Srebrenica on religious and ethnic grounds and the killing of several dozen detainees at a warehouse in nearby Kravica between July 11 and July 14,” said Kosovic.

However, she explained that, while the court concurred with the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal that the Srebrenica massacre was genocide, the court could not find Kuvelja guilty of such because it could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Kuvelja knew of the genocidal intent of the massacre.

Prosecutors plan to appeal the sentence, claiming that 20 years is insufficient.  More than 20 former Bosnian Serb soldiers and police officers have been jailed for their actions in the Srebrenica massacres.  Some top officials have received 30 and 35-year jail sentences.

For further information, please see:

On Islam – Serb Policeman Jailed for Muslim Genocide – 12 January 2013

Returns – Bosnian Serb ex-policeman jailed for 20 years over Srebrenica – 11 January 2013

RFE/RL – Bosnian Court Sentences Serb Ex-Cop to 20 Years for Role in Srebrenica Massacre – 11 January 2013

Srebrenica Genocide Blog – Srebrenica: Bozidar Kuvelja Sentenced to 20 Years – 11 January 2013

Washington Post – Bosnian Court Sends Man to Jail for 20 Years for Killing Hundreds of Srebrenica Muslims – 11 January 2013