UN tribunal overturns war crime conviction

An appeals panel at the UN war crimes tribunal sweepingly dismissed the conviction of a Bosnian Croat for crimes against Muslims in 1993 and reduced his sentence to nine years from 45 years.

General Tihomir Blaskic, aged 43, has spent more than eight years in prison for ordering an ethnic cleansing campaign against Muslim villages in central Bosnia that left hundreds dead and sent tens of thousands more fleeing.