JURIST - Paper Chase: ICTY prosecutor appeals light sentence for Bosnian Muslim war criminal

[JURIST] ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte [official profile] has appealed the two-year prison sentence [press release] for Naser Oric [ICTY case backgrounder], a former senior commander of Bosnian Muslim forces in Srebrenica convicted of war crimes [JURIST report]. The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] convicted Oric in June for failing to prevent the murder and inhumane treatment of Serb prisoners, and released him immediately after the conviction because Oric had already spent more than two years in detention. UN prosecutors were disappointed with the sentence, after having called for an 18 year prison term. Serbian political leaders including Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica were similarly critical, saying the ruling showed a judicial bias against Serbs.

Oric's indictment [text] alleged that military police under his command beat Serb detainees with metal bars, baseball bats and rifle butts and extracted teeth with pliers. Oric was charged with failing to prevent abuses by military police under his command, and was also charged with responsibility for destruction of Serb villages around Srebrenica [JURIST news archive]. Reuters has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

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