Bosnian Serb jailed for genocide role

Milorad Trbić, an officer of the erstwhile Bosnian Serb army, has been sentenced to 30 years in jail by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for his role in the Srebrenica Massacre of 1995, in which over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed.

The court found that, as the Duty Operations Officer of the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska in July 1995, Trbić "significantly contributed to the implementation" of the massacre, and did so "with genocidal intent".

Meanwhile, talks aiming to resolve disputes over power sharing in the loose federal structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina have apparently stalled. According to Valentin Inzko, the Austrian diplomat serving as the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, "Bosnia is in a state of paralysis".

The possibility of a return to violence has been voiced by some observers. Although that is highly unlikely, it seems the wounds have still not healed.

Serb war criminals jailed by Serbia

The war crime court of Serbia has found four Serbs guilty of murdering six Bosnian Muslims as part of the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995. The Bosnian Serb army overran the UN safe haven of Srebrenica that year and killed about 8,000 Muslim men and boys there, while sending the women and girls into exile.

The Serb war criminals were identified through a video made by the (Serb) Scorpions unit depicting the executions. The four who were found guilty were given sentences ranging from five to 20 years in prison, while one suspect was acquitted. The prosecution had demanded 40 years in prison, and the victims' families has expressed dissatisfaction with what they see as the lightness of the verdict.

The names of the four convicts are Slobodan Medić, Branislav Medić, Pera Petrašević and Aleksandar Medić.

This is the first time that a court in Serbia has found Serbs to be guilty of war crimes (BBC).

It is heartening when justice reaches those who thought they were safely hidden away from it. But Serbia has been very slow when it comes to admitting its mistakes and breaking with the past. The murderers of six Bosnian Muslims have now been punished. It's now time for Serbia to seek out and prosecute the remaining war criminals who are out and about in their midst.