Serb Nationalist Sentenced to 35 Years by U.N. Court

The United Nations war crimes court, created to hear cases from the former Yugoslavia, found a former subordinate of President Slobodan Milosevic, prior president of Yugoslavia -- charged with crimes against humanity -- guilty on Tuesday of multiple crimes while leading a Serbian rebellion.

They gave him a sentence of 35 years, according to the New York Times.

The man was 52 year old Milan Martic, who was convicted of crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution and torture of Croatian civilians, as well as of several war crimes. His caused hundreds of deaths and created tens of thousands of refugees. He was also found guilty of ordering a two-day rocket attack on the Zagreb, the Croatian capital, in 1995. He even admitted to reporters of giving the orders for the attack shortly after it occurred. Martic was named by the three judges of the court "one of the most important and influential political figures" of the Serbian province of Krajina, according to the New York Times. He

His trial ran about 13 months, and during the entire time, the Serbian nationalist seemed to show no remorse, but instead attempted to justify his violent actions and the actions of the paramilitary groups he gave orders too when he was minister of defense and minister of the interior, as well as when he was president of the republic of Krajina.

The case also brought forth mention the Serbian leadership in Belgrade for organizing a Greater Serbia to include all ethnic Serbs, which Krajina was supposed to have been a part of. Belgrade even sent funds, supplies and forces to the Krajina.

The 35 year prison sentence is excessive by tribunal standards, which has already heard the cases against more than 100 of those accused. Martic has been held in detention for already five years, since 2002 when he turned himself into the tribunal. Evidence had established that Slobodan Milosevic, who died shortly before his four-year trial at the tribunal ended, has the intention to secretly seize large portions of land in Bosnia and Croatia by creating violence using paramilitary groups, after which the Belgrade army would intervene to secure and unify the territories. While the plan failed because of Western intervention, Martic was cited as being a key element in that plan, according to the New York Times. In 1994, he was recorded saying that he wanted "speed up the process of unification" and "pass on the baton to our all-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic."
Source:

Simons, Marlise. "War Crimes Tribunal Sentences Serb to 35 Years." New York Times. 13 June 2007. 13 June 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/world/europe/13hague.html?th&emc=th