Serb begins genocide jail term

Krstic is the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb military officer tried by the U.N. court

SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- Former Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic is beginning a 46-year jail sentence for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

Krstic on Thursday became the first person to be found guilty of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia.

But relatives of the around 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys who died in the massacre have said the sentence -- the harshest handed down by the U.N. court -- is not severe enough.

Krstic, 53, was found guilty on eight counts -- two of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and one of violations of the laws or customs of war.

The judge at the tribunal said the former general "had agreed to evil."

YOUR SAY War Crimes Tribunal: Has justice been done?     MORE STORIES Bosnian Muslim officers held   'Sentence a reward, not punishment'   Genocide: Difficult to prove   Verdict puts pressure on Serb officials     RESOURCES Profile: Radislav Krstic      IN-DEPTH Srebrenica: Five days of evil   • Survivor's Story   • Gallery   • Massacre background   • Rebuilding Srebrenica   • Prayers for the dead   • Grief of the widows   • Mass grave found   • War crimes defendants   • Profile: Radko Mladic   • Profile: Radovan Karadzic   AUDIO CNN's Christiane Amanpour: "Dramatic moment for international justice" 1500K / 143 secs AIFF or WAV sound

The ruling means the massacre has been recognised as the first genocide in Europe since the persecution of Jews during World War II.

A group of widows gathered at the office of the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves in Sarajevo to watch coverage of the judgement from the court in The Hague, Netherlands.

Zumra Sehomerovic, whose husband was taken away before her eyes and killed, said: "Today, among the mothers with wounded souls, I do not see even a bit of satisfaction at the length of his sentence."

"This punishment is a reward in my opinion, he should have been given life imprisonment," said Munira Subasic who lost 25 male relatives in the massacre.

Krstic's lawyer said afterwards he would appeal against both the verdict and the sentence.

Nenad Petrusic said Krstic had taken the verdict "very calmly."

Petrusic said Krstic had not been anticipating the verdict handed down by the three-judge panel. "We were expecting what we requested, and that was an acquittal," he said.

Previously, the tribunal's harshest sentence had been 45 years given to Bosnian Croat general Timohir Blaskic for charges including crimes against humanity.

In his judgement, Presiding Judge Almiro Rodrigues said Krstic probably did not make the decision to kill all the men of fighting age at Srebrenica, a U.N.-designated ''safe area.''

But it found him "guilty of the murder of thousands of Muslims" and said he was responsible for the incredible suffering of the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica.

The judge said because Krstic, who lost a leg in a mine explosion, went along with the decision to kill all the men of fighting age in the enclave, he was guilty of genocide.

A shirt recovered from a mass grave of victims of the Srebrenica massacre

"Individually in 1995 you agreed to evil," he said.

The prosecution argued that Krstic, who denied all charges, led a week-long campaign that left thousands of men and boys dead or missing. The trial lasted 94 days and heard from 128 witnesses.

Krstic, the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb military officer tried by the U.N. court, said he knew of the mass killings, but was unable to stop them.

In July 1995, Serb forces attacked the "safe haven" where about 30,000 Muslims had sought refuge from the Serb onslaught at a Dutch-manned U.N. base.

Women and children were separated from the males, who were loaded onto buses and taken to collection stations throughout the region.

The verdict against Krstic was ''an incredibly dramatic moment for international justice,'' said Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent.

During the trial dozens of survivors had testified about what became known as the killing fields of Srebrenica.

Several told how they lay in a field of bleeding corpses for hours as Serb soldiers discharged round after round of automatic weapon fire into columns of prisoners.

Many of the victims were decapitated, and others were shot in a string of mass killings, the tribunal found.

Krstic told the court that his immediate superior, Gen. Ratko Mladic, took control of the forces that overran the enclave just days before the killings. Krstic said he kept quiet for fear that Mladic would harm his family.

But prosecutors argued that Krstic jointly masterminded the genocide plan with Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, then the Bosnian Serb political leader.

Both Mladic and Karadzic have been indicted but remain at large.