
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 31, 1993                   TAG: 9303310032
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA                                LENGTH: Short

BOSNIAN COURT ORDERS EXECUTION OF 2 SERBS

A military court convicted two Serbs of war crimes on Tuesday and sentenced them to death by firing squad for atrocities that included slitting the throats of POWs and raping Muslim women.

No date was set for the executions of Borislav Herak, 22, and Sretko Damjanovic, 31.

The commander of U.N. peacekeepers urged Bosnian authorities to turn the case - Bosnia's first war-crimes trial - over to an international tribunal to avoid inflaming ethnic passions.

Herak, his head slightly bowed as the sentence was read, confessed to killing 30 war prisoners and civilians, including a dozen young Muslims he first raped.

Damjanovic claims he was tortured into falsely confessing to five murders and two rapes. The only evidence against him, his attorney complained, was Herak's testimony.

Defense attorneys planned an appeal to the Bosnian supreme court. They said the trial produced no hard evidence and hinged on the disputed confession of one defendant.

Given a chance to speak after sentencing, Herak said, "I deserve the death penalty."

Damjanovic said bitterly, "I just want to thank the court for this."

Asked by the judge to elaborate, he said, "This is a not a fair judgment. I am not guilty."

by CNB