The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague has sentenced a Bosnian Serb to 20 years in jail for crimes against humanity.
Mitar Vasiljevic was accused of belonging to a paramilitary group working with Serb military units and police in a reign of terror over the Muslim population around the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad between 1992 and 1994.
Evidence was given that in 1992 he had murdered five Muslims, ignoring their pleas for mercy.
The judges dismissed the charge that he was directly involved in burning alive 135 Muslim women, children and elderly men.
They said the Prosecution had failed to disprove Mr Vasiljevic's alibi that he was in hospital with a broken leg at the time of the atrocity.
The US welcomed the prison sentence saying it was proof of the effectiveness of the UN tribunal.
A US State Department spokesperson, Lynn Cassel, said the verdict showed that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia "can and will hold individuals accountable for their crimes and that justice will be served."
