The Appellate Chamber of Bosnia’s Court handed down a final 11-year prison sentence to Sretko Pavic for his involvement in war crimes against civilians in the northern town of Prijedor.

Pavic, a former member of the Volarska Company within the 6th Ljubija Battalion of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), participated in the killings of five civilians from the Causevic family committed in the village of Rizvanovici, near Prijedor.

Pavic's trial was resumed after the Appellate Chamber overturned his first-instance verdict according to which he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 13 years in prison, Detektor.ba reported.

The Chamber now found him guilty of war crimes against civilians and its Chairman, Dragomir Vukoje, explained that the first instance ruling was revoked due to “lack of explanation of the persecution (charge)”.

He said that the Chamber does not dispute that there was a widespread and systematic attack against the non-Serb population in the Prijedor area, but that in this particular case it did not find this qualification proven in relation to Pavic.