Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide dies in custody News
Bosnian Serb general convicted of genocide dies in custody

Bosnian Serb General Zdravko Tolimir died [press release] on Monday in custody in The Hague. Tolimir was convicted of genocide and given a life sentence by UN judges in 2012. Last year the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] upheld [JURIST report] the majority of convictions for Tolimir for his involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC backgrounder], during which almost 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered. Tolimir was arrested in Serbia in 2007 and convicted [JURIST report] in 2012. The ICTY has reported [BBC report] that Tolimir passed away in the UN Detention Unit. The cause of his death has yet to be determined.

The Srebrenica massacre has led to the arrest and prosecution of numerous war criminals including former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic [JURIST news archive]. In October the families of three Bosnian Muslims killed massacre filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the European Court of Human Rights seeking to bring charges against three Dutch former-UN commanders. Earlier last year the ICTY upheld genocide convictions [JURIST report] for Vujadin Popovic and Ljubisa Beara for crimes perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces during the 1995 massacre. Also last year the war crimes division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the indictment [JURIST report] of Dragomir Vasic on charges of genocide.

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