Bosnian Muslim ex-officer jailed for wartime civilian killings
A former Bosnian Muslim army officer was jailed for 12 years on Monday over his role in the 1990s wartime killing of 27 Croat civilians, including women, children and elderly, a Sarajevo court ruled.
Enver Buza, 72, was found guilty of having “directly commanded the attack” on a village in central Bosnia, during which 27 victims from nearby hamlets were killed, the court statement said.
The crimes were committed on September 14, 1993.
At the time Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats, who had previously been allied against ethnic Serbs during most of the 1992-1995 war, began to fight each other too.
Buza was present in the “vicinity of the place where the crimes took place, observing the course of action ... and commanding” it, the court said.
He was also found guilty of failing to punish the perpetrators despite knowing about the crimes, it added.
The former Bosnian army battalion commander pleaded not guilty during the trial.
Bosnia’s civil war saw its three main communities -- Serbs, Muslims and Croats -- clash in violence that claimed some 100,000 lives. Around 7,000 people are still missing.
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