The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague convicted two former heads of the Serbian security apparatus on Wednesday.   

Jovica Stanisic, 70, the former head of Serbia's state security service, and his deputy Franko Simatovic, 71, were convicted of running death squads in the 1990s Balkan wars.

In a summary judgment, the court concluded the two men backed paramilitary groups that caused a reign of terror in Bosnia and Croatia as part of an attempt to create an "ethnically pure Greater Serbia," and sentenced them to 12 years each.

Who are Stanisic and Simatovic?

Stanisic and Simatovic were close confidants of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

Serbia was involved in wars in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. 

Stanisic and Simatovic were accused of organizing a campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Muslims and Croats.

The pair "organized, supplied, financed, supported and directed" the Serb paramilitary groups that murdered Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs to force them out of large areas, seeking to establish a Serb-run state, the indictment against them said.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Prosecutors were seeking a life sentence.

Appeals judges overturn an acquittal

The trial of Stanisic and Simatovic and at the Hague tribunal began in 2008.

The two defendants were acquitted in 2013, a ruling that triggered widespread dismay and sharp criticism.

When prosecutors appealed, the tribunal ordered a retrial in 2015.

Appeals judges then concluded that the original trial judges had made mistakes and ordered a retrial.

One of the last international trials

The case is one of the last remaining from the wars that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia after the fall of communism.

Milosevic was also tried by the tribunal, but died before the verdict was handed down in 2006.

In June, former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic had his life sentence for genocide upheld.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is also serving a life sentence after being convicted by the court.

The Balkan wars left some 130,000 people dead and millions displaced.

sri, ar/sms (Reuters, AFP, dpa)