Sarajevo siege leader gets 20 years for war crimes

JUDGES at the Hague war crimes tribunal jailed a former Bosnian Serb general for 20 years yesterday for deliberately shelling and shooting civilians during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1992-’95 Bosnian war.

Stanislav Galic, 60, is the first suspect to be tried by the UN war crimes tribunal exclusively in connection with the 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital. Prosecutors said Bosnian Serb forces had plunged the city into a "medieval hell".

Sarajevo became synonymous with war during the siege. Serb forces dug into surrounding hills rained down sniper and shell fire on buses, trams, gardens and funerals, killing men, women and children. Television images of the city's shattered buildings and slain civilians shocked the world.