| A U.N. tribunal convicted and sentenced two former Bosnian Serb army commanders to lengthy prison terms Monday for their roles in the 1995 slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica, Europe's worst massacre since World War II. Col. Vidoje Blagojevic, 54, received an 18-year term for complicity in genocide and other war crimes. He was the wartime commander of the Bratunac brigade that took part in the killing of more than 7,000 Muslims near the eastern Bosnia city of Srebrenica. Dragan Jokic, 47, a major in the Zvornik brigade who assumed command during a week of killing at the end of the 1992-1995 war, got a nine-year sentence. He was convicted of murder, extermination and persecution on racial grounds. Prosecutors had sought 15-20 years in prison for Jokic and 32 years for Blagojevic. Both men were acquitted of allegations of command responsibility. The court said the men had merely passed on orders, rather than given them. |