Bosnian Serbs Guilty of Burnings

Two Bosnian Serb commanders have been found guilty of war crimes, including burning women and children alive, during the Bosnian civil war.

Cousins Milan and Sredoje Lukic were members of a paramilitary group called the White Eagles, or the Avengers.

They were accused of murder, persecution, extermination and other inhumane acts against Bosnian Muslims near Visegrad between 1992 and 1994.

Judges at The Hague jailed Milan Lukic for life, and Sredoje to 30 years.

Judge Patrick Robinson, reading his verdict, said: "The perpetration by Milan Lukic and Stredoje Lukic of crimes in this case is characterised by a callous and vicious disregard for human life."

The burning alive of Muslims, he said, was extraordinarily brutal, and "exemplified the worst acts of humanity that one person may inflict on others".

Ringleader

The court ruled that Milan Lukic, the leader of the White Eagles paramilitary force, was the ringleader of the attacks.

WHITE EAGLES

Paramilitary group in Bosnian conflict in early 1990s

Accused of ethnic cleansing of Muslims near Visegrad

Worked with Bosnian Serb police and army units

Also known as the "Avengers"

He herded about 130 women, children and elderly men in to two houses - both in or near the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad - before setting fire to them.

All those who tried to escape were shot.

He was also found guilty of murdering 12 Muslim civilian men, and beating Muslims at a detention camp.

Sredoje Lukic was found guilty of aiding and abetting one of the house fires.

Prosecutors told the tribunal that the White Eagles carried out a campaign of ethnic cleaning.

One prosecutor, Dermot Groome, said the cousins took part in a "widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population".

Top fugitives

The cousins had denied the charges at their trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague, which ended in May.

The defence had called for an acquittal because of what it called "inconsistencies" in the prosecution evidence.

But the court found the testimonies of surviving witnesses to be credible.

In 2005, Milan and Sredoje Lukic were two of The Hague tribunal's top fugitives.

Milan Lukic, 41, went on the run for seven years after being indicted on war crimes charges, but was arrested in Argentina in August 2005 and was handed over to the tribunal after being extradited.

Sredoje Lukic, 48, surrendered to the Bosnian Serb authorities the following month.

Thousands Remember Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II

Tens of thousa

Bosnian Muslim women weep amidst coffins of Srebrenica victims during a funeral ceremony at the Memorial center of Potocari, near Srebrenica

nds of Bosnian Muslims have prayed and remembered the dead in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica on Saturday, the 14th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War II. They also re-buried hundreds of victims recently recovered from mass graves. Saturday's ceremony came amid international concerns over remaining ethnic tensions in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It took 14 long years to find and identify them. But on Saturday, at an emotionally charged ceremony, family members finally laid to rest 534 victims into pits next to the nearly 3,300 graves at the Srebrenica-Potocari memorial center.

The victims, including 44 teenagers, were among more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were killed when Serbian forces overran the Bosnian town of Srebrenica during the Balkan wars in July of 1995.

Bosnian Muslims had fled to Srebrenica as it was declared a United Nations "protected safe area for civilians." But the outnumbered U.N. troops never fired a shot as they were overrun by Serbian forces. Instead, they stood by as Serbian troops rounded up the population, separating males for execution.

On Saturday, thousands of people prayed and remembered Europe's worst massacre since World War Two. One elderly woman was close to tears when she explains that she is sad that the victims could not live to see this day.

A middle aged woman was overheard telling a reporter that she saw her young son during prayers in a mosque. Another family member said she has been hallucinating for the last 14 years.

The wounds of history have not yet healed. Serbian deputies in the Bosnian parliament have blocked an initiative to declare July 11 the "Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day" in the former Yugoslav republic.

Earlier the European Parliament proclaimed July 11 a day of commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide. Bosnia's inter-ethnic war cost thousands of lives and left the country split into two highly autonomous entities - the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serbs' Republika Srpska.

European Union officials, including Germany's Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Ammon, warn that these divisions will hold up Bosnia's attempt to join NATO and the EU. "In this regard we are concerned about the developments in Bosnia Herzegovina, the reform process there has almost come to a stand-still. And allow to be frank: Only Bosnia Herzegovina as a whole enjoys the European prospective, not its parts of entities. NATO and EU accession are a major step towards stabilization of the whole region," he said.

He spoke at a summit on Southeastern Europe in neighboring Croatia. Saturday's commemoration for the victims of Srebrenica was also attended by a United States congressional delegation that put a wreath near what is known as the Memorial Stone.

In a statement,U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia Charles English said U.S. President Barack Obama has called the Srebrenica slaughter "a stain in our collective consciousness," and that the world has to ask itself how this genocide could have happened.

Last year Bosnian Serbian President Radovan Karadzic was captured and transferred to the United Nations Tribunal in The Hague. However another key suspect, former Bosnian Serbian commander, General Ratko Mladic, remains at large.