2 Serbs Get Bosnia Death Sentences

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina —  A military court convicted two Serbs of war crimes on Tuesday and sentenced them to death by firing squad for atrocities that included slitting the throats of POWs and raping Muslim women.

No date was set for the executions of Borislav Herak, 22, and Sretko Damjanovic, 31. Defense attorneys said they will appeal.

Herak, his head slightly bowed as the sentence was read, confessed to killing 30 war prisoners and civilians, including a dozen Muslim women he first raped.

Damjanovic claims he was tortured into falsely confessing to five murders and two rapes. The only evidence against him, his lawyer complained, is Herak’s testimony.

The five-man military court convicted both soldiers of crimes against civilians and genocide, based on Herak’s testimony that he and Damjanovic killed people during so-called “ethnic cleansing” operations to purge Muslims from villages the Serbs took over.

Herak also was convicted of crimes against prisoners of war, based on his confession that he slit the throats of three POWs.

A third defendant, Nada Tomic, was sentenced to three years in prison for harboring goods stolen by the soldiers.