Srebrenica murders 'not genocide'

Krstic was originally sentenced to 46 years

Lawyers for a Bosnian Serb general convicted over the Srebrenica massacre say he did not seek to commit genocide and his sentence should be quashed.

Radislav Krstic received a 46-year sentence for his involvement in the 1995 killing of 7,000 Muslims.

His defence team says the numbers were too "insignificant" for genocide and Krstic did not plan the killings.

Prosecutors at the Hague International War Crimes Tribunal appeal hearing are seeking a life sentence for Krstic.

The Srebrenica massacre of Muslim men and boys is considered Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

According to French news agency AFP, defence lawyers said the killings were not genocide, merely "ethnic cleansing".

Parallel command

Lawyer Norman Sepenuk said Krstic, 58, was unaware of the scale of the atrocities.

"General Krstic is not guilty but the defence is not trying to minimise the massacre," he said.

Throughout his trial, his defence has insisted that there was a parallel command structure in the Bosnian Serb troops which organised the massacres and worked around Krstic, leaving him unaware of the slaughter.

Krstic's convictions included crimes against humanity and war crimes for the deportation of thousands of women and children from Srebrenica.

His lawyers agree that he did organise busses to take thousands of Muslim refugees out of Srebrenica and the surrounding Serb-held areas after his troops captured the Bosnian enclave, but said he had "no evil intent".

The defence says Krstic should only be found guilty of assisting with the deportations and his sentence should be reduced.

New evidence

On Wednesday prosecutor Mathias Marcussen told the tribunal that the 46-year sentence did not reflect the gravity of the crime.

He added that Krstic should have foreseen that "people would be killed, raped, and beaten".

The defence is expected to fight against new evidence at the appeal - the testimony of two of Krstic's fellow officers, Momir Nikolic and Dragan Obrenovic.

They pleaded guilty in May to persecution and admitted they knew of the executions.

Judges at the original trial in 2001 ruled that Krstic had "agreed to evil" as commander of the Drina Corps and had overseen the massacre.