Bosnian Serb war criminal Deronjic dies

Miroslav Deronjic, a former Bosnian Serb politician who was serving a 10-year sentence in Sweden for war crimes, has died of …

Miroslav Deronjic, a former Bosnian Serb politician who was serving a 10-year sentence in Sweden for war crimes, has died of natural causes, Swedish officials said yesterday.

Deronjic, who was 52, had been convicted of ordering an attack on a Bosnian village in 1992 in which more than 60 Muslims were killed.

The war crimes tribunal in The Hague sentenced him in 2004 and rejected an appeal the following year after which he was moved to Sweden to serve his sentence.

"He died from natural causes last night in a hospital in Sweden," said Christer Isaksson, head of security at the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.

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Isaksson gave no more details about the circumstances or place of Deronjic's death.

Deronjic was a prominent member of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) in the Bratunac region of eastern Bosnia during the 1992-95 conflict.

He was sentenced in March 2004 after pleading guilty to persecution, a crime against humanity, the previous year.

Yugoslav army and Bosnian Serb forces razed the village of Glogova to the ground, setting alight its mosque, homes, warehouses, fields and haystacks in May, 1992.

The 1992-95 war between Serbs, Croats and Muslims ended with peace deal splitting Bosnia into two parts, the Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat federation.