Bosnia and Herzegovina / Srebrenica Massacre

Serb Acquitted of Srebrenica Charges
Reuters dispatch in The Irish Times, May 5, 2010
"A Bosnian appeals court acquitted a Serb wartime commander of Srebrenica genocide charges today, quashing an earlier 40-year prison term on grounds of insufficient evidence. Bosnia's war crimes court convicted Milos Stupar and six other Bosnian Serbs in 2008 in connection with the killing of several hundred Srebrenica Muslim detainees in 1995 and were sentenced to terms ranging between 38 and 42 years in prison. But Stupar appealed against the conviction, prompting the Sarajevo court's appeals chamber to annul the verdict and start a new trial two months ago. Evidence in the retrial showed Stupar took command of the Bosnian Serb unit linked to the massacre only on July 14th, 1995, replacing an injured commander, and so could not have prevented the killings the day before, presiding judge Azra Miletic said. 'The evidence does not indicate that Milos Stupar was a commander who had effective control over those who allegedly executed the crime,' Mr. Miletic said. 'He cannot be considered responsible for failing to punish those who had not been under his effective control.' [...]"