Serb general in Srebrenica genocide dies

Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir, who was sentenced to life over the Srebrenica genocide, has died in prison.

Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir, who was serving a life sentence for genocide, has died in detention at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, Belgrade authorities say.

The head of Serbia's body in charge of co-operation with ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, confirmed the news of Tolimir's death, but gave no other details, state broadcaster RTS reported on Tuesday.

ICTY was unable to immediately confirm the report.

A high-ranking commander of the Bosnian Serb army intelligence service, Tolimir, 67, was found guilty of six counts of war crimes, including genocide, in December 2012 and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

During the siege of Srebrenica, a town that was a Muslim enclave in Serb territory during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Tolimir reported directly to the Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, who is presently on a genocide trial at the ICTY.

In the 2012 sentencing, the court made a "conservative estimate" that the Bosnian Serb military killed "at least 4917" Muslims in Srebrenica after they rolled into the enclave in July 1995.

Generally, the number of victims, mostly able-bodied men, is estimated at between 7000 and 8000. The Serbs expelled women, children and the elderly.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world