Bosnian court sentences former Serb police officer to 20 years in jail for war crimes

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - A court in Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced a former Bosnian Serb police officer to 20 years in prison for crimes against Bosniak civilians during the 1990s Bosnian war.

Dusan Culibrk was accused of participating in the killing of 51 civilians from the area of Prijedor in the summer of 1992.

Culibrk has a right to appeal against the verdict.

In March 1992, when the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina had just begun, 1,775 Serbs from 13 police stations in Prijedor were armed in about a month.

Serbian troops seized the city of Prijedor on the night of April 29, when the majority of the population was then Bosniak. Serb troops with heavy weapons attacked villages around Prijedor on May 23.

During the attack and the massacre in and around Prijedor, 3,176 civilians died, including over 100 children.

About 30,000 civilians from Prijedor were also taken to concentration camps in Omarska, Keraterm, Kozarac, Trnopolje and Manjaca. Tens of thousands were deported from their own lands.

Concentration camps near Prijedor had been centers of torture, massacres, and rape in 1992 when the Bosnian War began.

About 6,000 people were held captive in the Omarska camp, established on May 26, 1992, and 700 of these were killed. Among the captives were 37 women and 28 children.

American and British journalists reported on the concentration camps to the world in August 1992.