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Former Bosnian Serb general Tolimir passes away in detention

Xinhua, February 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

At the age of 67 former Bosnian Serb Army general Zdravko Tolimir died in the UN detention in Scheveningen, The Hague, Monday night, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) stated on Tuesday.

According to the press release of the ICTY, the medical officer was called immediately and the Dutch authorities have commenced standard investigations as mandated under Dutch national law.

Tolimir was assistant commander and chief of the sector for intelligence and security affairs of the main staff of the Bosnian Serb Army during the Bosnian War. He reported directly to Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic, currently still on trial in The Hague. On May 31, 2007 Tolimir was arrested and his trial started on Feb. 26, 2010.

In December 2012 Tolimir was convicted to life in prison for among other crimes, genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide in the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves in 1995. His sentence of life imprisonment was upheld by the ICTY appeals chamber in April last year.

Tolimir is not the first Bosnian Serb captive to die in the detention unit of the Tribunal. Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic died in his cell on March 11, 2006, before the final judgment in his case. Endit