The case was the first test of new Norwegian legislation on crimes against humanity and war crimes adopted in March.
Mirsad Repak, 42, who came to Norway in 1993 as an asylum-seeker and obtained Norwegian citizenship in 2001, has pleaded not guilty since the start of the trial on August 27.
The prosecutor had demanded 10 years in prison for the crimes that were said to have taken place in connection with the internment of civilians in Stolac and at the Dretelj prison camp in southern Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“The accused is found guilty of 11 cases of war crimes and deprivation of freedom of civilian, non-combatant Serbs followed by an internment in Dretelj,” judge Finn Haugen told the court.
“The internment lasted for all 11 prisoners significantly longer than one month and/or the prisoners were exposed to unusual suffering,” the judge said, adding that Repak was linked particularly to one incident of violence when he tortured a woman during questioning.
He was acquitted of the more wideranging charge of crimes against humanity, since that element of the law could not be applied to the alleged offence at that time.
The defence had argued that the state’s entire case, including war crimes, should be thrown out as unconstitutional. But the court ruled the law encompassed the acts on which he was convicted.
Repak was also ordered to pay a total of 400,000 Norwegian crowns (37,503 pounds) to eight victims, but was acquitted on one rape charge. The defence has argued that he was a common soldier, but the court ruled that he had played a leadership role.
The prosecutor had argued that Repak played an important role in rape, torture, cruel treatment and violations of the laws or customs of war towards 18 Serbian non-combatants in the former Yugoslavia.
Norway’s ambassador in Bosnia, Jan Braathu, told Norwegian TV channel TV2: “The immediate reaction is that the verdict is considered very mild.”
