The Belgrade Higher Court unanimously sentenced a Bosnian Serb to seven years in jail for the murder of a Bosniak civilian in 1992 during the war in Bosnia, N1 reported.

Milanko Devic was convicted of, forcibly taking Ismet Sljivar, a Bosniak, from his house in the Kljuc municipality in the north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina, spraying him with bullets and throwing his body into the Sitnica River in 1992.

Devic committer the crime together with Bogdan Sabota and an unidentified soldier of the Republika Srpska Army (VRS).

In February 2017, the Bihac Cantonal Court reached the guilty verdict and sentenced Sobota to eight years in jail in the first instance for the same murder.

The Court established that Sobota was also a VRS member who with two others killed Sljivar.

Last February, Bosnia’s Supreme Court confirmed the verdict but reduced the jail time to six years.

Earlier this month, Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor’s office demanded the nine-year term for Devic, Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported.

In his closing argument, the Deputy Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said he was “absolutely convinced that the evidence during the main trial” proved Devic’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

He added there were no mitigating circumstances which could influence the penalty.

Vekaric said “this process was one of many which showed the senseless of warfare,” adding it also proved the international humanitarian law must be respected.”

Devic’s defence said on Tuesday they would appeal the sentence to the Appellant Court and refused to comment on the conviction saying they did not get a detailed explanation of the verdict.