'Reward, not punishment'

Relatives of victims gathered in Sarajevo to watch the verdict

SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- In the summer of 1995, Zumra Sehomerovic watched as Bosnian Serb forces led her husband away. She never saw him again.

On Thursday, Sehomerovic and other relatives of victims of the Srebrenica massacre watched as one of the men responsible was jailed for 46 years.

Former Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic is the first person to have been found guilty of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia.

The sentence was the harshest the U.N. court has imposed, but for the group of widows who gathered at the office of the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves in Sarajevo to watch coverage of the judgement from The Hague, it was not enough.

Sehomerovic told Reuters: "Today, among the mothers with wounded souls, I do not see even a bit of satisfaction at the length of his sentence."

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Some of the wept as Judge Almiro Rodrigues recounted the July 1995 events.

"Oh my God, oh my God," Suhra Malic repeated as the judge spoke of how Bosnian Serb forces separated thousands of Muslim men and boys from women after capturing the town on July 11, 1995 and took them away.

"This punishment is a reward in my opinion, he should have been given life imprisonment," said Munira Subasic, the head of the association, who lost 25 male relatives in the massacre.

"Even if he had a thousand lives and each one were taken away from him there would be no justice. I am not satisfied with 46 years. I don't think he will live that long but I still expected to hear the words 'life imprisonment'," she said.

Malic, who lost 30 relatives, said she was "embittered because it was not a life sentence and because they did not let him be judged by us, mothers...

"Let him come (here) and we will give him justice."

As cameras showed Krstic's face, Malic shouted "Drop dead!" at the face on the screen.

Other women yelled :"Human trash!" "May you burn in hell!"

As the sentence was announced there was anger in the room.

"For 10,000 of our sons, only 46 years!" said Behara Hasanovic. "His people have ripped my son from my arms."

Nedzma Salihovic sobbed, the tears staining her white T-shirt emblazoned with the words: "Srebrenica: The missing are not forgotten."

Pictures of two of the teenage sons Malic lost in the massacre hang on the wall in the office.

"In that nice jail, he will receive visits from his family. He will see them. What about me?" she said weeping. "I have not even found their bones yet."

Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, a Muslim, told Reuters that Krstic was "definitely someone who deserves the biggest punishment.

"General Krstic was in charge of the Srebrenica action that resulted in the biggest massacre in recent history."