General jailed for Sarajevo siege

Dragomir Milosevic was found guilty of directing sniper and shell attacks from positions overlooking the city.

Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence for the 65-year-old, who had commanded the Sarajevo Romanija Corps (SRK) unit of the Bosnian Serb army.

Thousands of Sarajevo's civilians died in the siege between 1992 and 1995.

The city became synonymous with the conflict as television images were relayed around the world of a population facing food shortages and near-daily artillery attacks.

Milosevic was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including responsibility for terror, murder and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

Milosevic pleaded not guilty to the charges.

'Horrific tale'

Milosevic became commander of the SRK in 1994, taking over from Stanislav Galic, who has already been jailed for life by The Hague for his role in the siege.

"The evidence presents an horrific tale of the encirclement and entrapment of a city and its bombardment," Judge Patrick Robinson said.

According to prosecutors, "the SRK subjected Sarajevo to a prolonged and murderous campaign of terror through shelling and sniping of civilians".

The Bosnian war ended with the Dayton accord of 1995 and the siege of Sarajevo was lifted in February the following year.

Some 14,000 people had died during the siege, according to a research body linked to the Norwegian government.

Most of the dead were Bosnian Muslims. Croats and Serbs who stayed on in the Bosnian-Muslim-held parts of the city were also among those killed.

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