The UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) delivered the sentence on Wednesday in The Hague to the war criminal based on grave charges.

"The crimes were massive in scale, severe in intensity and devastating in effect," presiding judge Christoph Flugge said before the court.

Tolimir, 64, was found guilty of involvement in the Srebrenica massacre. In 1995, Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic allegedly orchestrated the murder of over 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Tolimir acted both as the chief of the Bosnian Serb army's intelligence service and as Mladic's deputy.

A representative of the group "Srebrenica Mothers," told the dapd news agency that she found the verdict just.

"We're finally witnesses to a little justice," said group representative Munira Subasic. "We're still alive so that we can be witnesses [to the verdict] and we're still searching for the bones of our sons."

The UN tribunal also charged Tolimir with murder, extermination, persecution, and crimes against humanity.

Mladic, 70, is currently on trial in The Hague for the Srebrenica massacre and other alleged war crimes.

Over 100,000 people died during Bosnia Herzegovina's 1992-1995 war.

kms/hc (dpa, dapd, Reuters)