Babic convicted of war persecution

A UN war crimes tribunal today convicted wartime Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic of one count of persecution after he pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors and sought forgiveness from the Croatian people for his crimes.

The court also accepted the prosecution’s decision to drop four other charges of murder, cruelty and the wanton destruction of villages during the war in Croatia, which was launched when the Serbs revolted after Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991.