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Bosnian ex-politician sentenced for war crimes

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 28, 2006

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A U.N. tribunal sentenced the former speaker of the Bosnian Serb Parliament on Wednesday to 27 years in prison for war crimes, but acquitted him of the harsher charge of genocide.

Momcilio Krajisnik, 61, one of the highest-ranking politicians in wartime Bosnia, was convicted of five counts of war crimes, including persecution, extermination and the murder of Muslims and Croats in the early stages of the 1992-95 Bosnian war, which left more than 200,000 dead.

Krajisnik "knew about, and intended, the mass detention and expulsion of civilians," the court said in its verdict. "He had the power to intervene, but he was not concerned with the predicament of detained and expelled persons."

However, presiding Judge Alphons Orie said the judges were not convinced that the Bosnian Serb leadership had deliberately intended to destroy the non-Serb population - a key element in winning a conviction for genocide.

Georgia accuses Russian military officers of spying

TBILISI, Georgia - Georgian authorities detained four Russian military officers on spying charges Wednesday, and security forces surrounded Russia's military headquarters in Tbilisi to demand that another suspect be handed over, the interior minister said.

Vano Merabishvili said the Russians, who were detained in the Georgian capital and the Black Sea port of Batumi, had been involved in espionage for several years and were planning a "major provocation." Twelve Georgians were also detained as part of the spy ring.

"They showed a particular interest in Georgia's defense capability, its programs of integration into NATO, energy security, political parties and organizations" as well as information about the nation's military forces and infrastructure, Merabishvili added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Georgia's ambassador to Moscow to protest the detentions and demand the officers' immediate release.

The move highlights escalating tensions between the ex-Soviet Caucasus nation and its giant northern neighbor since President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power after Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution and pledged to move the country more toward the West.

[Last modified September 28, 2006, 00:36:58]