[JURIST] A panel of judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday convicted [press release; ICTY judgment summary] former Bosnian Muslim General Enver Hadzihasanovic and former Brigadier Amir Kubura for their failure to check or punish war atrocities [ICTY case backgrounder] committed against Bosnian Croat and Serb civilians by troops under their command during the Bosnian war from 1992-1995 [JURIST news archive]. The Hague tribunal sentenced Hadzihasanovic to 5 years in jail and Kubura to 2 1/2 years. Although prosecutors urged the court to give 20 years to Hadzihasanovic and 10 years to Kubura for their war crimes, the tribunal elected shorter sentencing, which would take into account time already spent by the men in detention.

The court said that prosecutors had failed to fully persuade the court that the men had complete knowledge of the abuses and retained effective control over all perpetrators, who, in many cases, were non-Bosnian fighters. Reuters has more.