BiH court sentences war criminal Kurtovic to 11 years in prison

01/05/2008

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) -- The war crimes chamber found Zijad Kurtovic guilty of war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war and sentenced him to 11 years behind bars Wednesday (April 30th). According to the indictment, Kurtovic, 41, violated the provisions of the Geneva Conventions in the second half of 1993, while a member of the BiH Muslim-dominated army. He was serving in Donja Dreznica, part of the Mostar municipality. The court also convicted him of having detained Bosnian Croat civilians and prisoners of war in a Roman Catholic Church, where he beat them with bats, crosses and statues of saints and forced them to eat pages of the Bible. (RTRS, SRNA, DPA, Reuters, BHRT - 30/04/08)