Bosnian Muslim commander's conviction quashed by UN court

UN TRIBUNAL:SERBS HAVE condemned yesterday's acquittal by the UN war crimes court in The Hague of Naser Oric, the former bodyguard of Slobodan Milosevic who commanded Muslim forces in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.

The court quashed Mr Oric's 2006 conviction for failing to prevent his men murdering and abusing ethnic Serb civilians in Srebrenica during Bosnia's 1992-5 war, before the town became infamous for the July 1995 Serb massacre of 8,000 Muslims.

"The appeals chamber has no doubt that grave crimes were committed against Serbs detained in Srebrenica," said Judge Wolfgang Schomburg. "However, proof that crimes have occurred is not sufficient to sustain a conviction of an individual for these crimes."

After serving in an elite unit of the Yugoslav army and then as bodyguard to president Slobodan Milosevic, Mr Oric (41) returned to his native Bosnia to defend fellow Muslims from Serb forces unleashed by his former boss.

"I don't think they really committed crimes," he said of his fighters yesterday. "We were under siege. We were just fighting to survive and fighting for our lives."

Kada Hotic, of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, called Mr Oric "a brave man who fought along with us when were were defenceless, without weapons and nobody wanted to help us. For the people of Srebrenica this is a sign that there is justice after all."

The decision has enraged Serb opinion, which sees Mr Oric as a brutal killer who preyed on Serbs living around Srebrenica. Serbia's council for co-operation with the UN court said the verdict made it "difficult to defend the position that there are no double standards" at the tribunal.

"Such a verdict could neither contribute to the implementation of justice, nor establishing truth or reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia," the council said in a statement, calling Mr Oric's acquittal a "very serious blow to international justice".

Rajko Vasic, a member of Bosnia's ruling Social Democratic party, said it was "shameful to acquit people who stained their hands with the blood of innocent civilians - whether they were Serb, Muslim or Croatian."