- BELGRADE: Serbia’s war crimes court has sentenced one former local official to 15 years in prison and another to six for the wartime torture and killing of Muslims in eastern Bosnia.
The court said Monday that Branko Grujic and Branko Popovic were guilty of involvement in the deaths of some 700 Muslim civilians near the town of Zvornik in the early days of the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Serb troops rounded up Muslims in the area in 1992, torturing, killing or expelling them.
Popovic received a 15-year sentence and Grujic was given six years.
The trial is part of Serbia’s efforts to deal with its wartime past as it seeks to join the European Union.
