Former Bosnian Serb Soldier Jailed 20 Years For Burning Muslim Civilians

A court in Bosnia-Herzegovina has sentenced a former Bosnian Serb soldier to 20 years in prison for setting ablaze 57 Bosniaks early in Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.

Radomir Susnjar, 64, known by the name Lalco, was also convicted on October 30 of robbery and illegally detaining civilians in the incident -- which killed 26 people near the eastern town of Visegrad.

Among those who died was a two-day-old baby.

The group of Bosniaks had been seized after an attack on the village of Koritnik and locked in a house that was set on fire with an accelerant and explosives.

The court found that Susnjar and other soldiers in the Bosnian Serb Army shot at the house to prevent anyone fleeing.

One civilian survived with serious injuries while others managed to escape.

Susnjar had lived in France for years before being tracked down and arrested on a Bosnian warrant.

He was held in custody in France for four years before being extradited to Bosnia in 2018.

In 2012, Bosnian Serbs Milan and Sredoje Lukic were sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to life and 27 years in prison for the same crimes.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP