The Appeals Chamber of the International Court for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday acquitted Naser Oric, a former commander of the Bosnian Muslim forces in and around Srebrenica, overturning an earlier war crimes verdict, according to dpa. The court emphasized that while grave crimes were committed against Bosnian Serbs in the area under Oric's command, "proof that crimes have occurred is not sufficient to sustain a conviction of an individual for these crimes." The court criticised the fact that the perpetrators then had not been sufficiently identified. So it could not be proven whether they had in fact been under Oric's command. The appeals court ruling effectively overturns a 2006 verdict finding him guilty and sentencing him to two years in prison for failing to prevent the murder and torture of Bosnian Serb prisoners of war in Srebrenica in 1992 and 1993.
