Three former Bosnian Serb commanders have been convicted of crimes against humanity at the United Nations war crimes court for raping, enslaving and torturing Muslim women and girls in 1992.
The three got sentences ranging from 12 to 28 years today at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which acknowledged rape as a crime against humanity for the first time in 1996.
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"Rape was used by members of the Bosnian Serb armed forces as an instrument of terror," presiding Judge Florence Mumba said as she delivered the verdict after an eight-month trial.
"The three accused are not ordinary soldiers whose morals were merely loosened by the hardships of war . . . they thrived in the dark atmosphere of the dehumanisation of those believed to be enemies," the judge said.
The trial chamber sentenced Dragoljub Kunarac (40) to 28 years in jail. Radomir Kovac (39) received 20 years and Zoran Vukovic (39) got 12 years.
"Lawless opportunists should expect no mercy, no matter how low their position in the chain of command may be," said Judge Mumba.
The trial was the first to deal exclusively with rape and to prosecute for sexual enslavement.
Prosecutors said the three took women and girls as young as 12 to a variety of rape houses for a string of brutal beatings and assaults. The crimes took place in the summer of 1992 after Bosnian Serb forces over-ran the town of Foca in southeastern Bosnia.
The three, leaders of Bosnian Serb forces during the overthrow and occupation of Foca, were charged with around 33 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.