War criminal transferred to Estonia

TALLINN- The former leader of the Croatian Serbsduring the war Milan Martic has been placed in an Estonian jail to serve out a35 year prison sentence for war crimes in Croatia.

Marticwas found guilty of the crimes, committed during the war between 1991-1994 andsurrendered in 2002 to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

The transition from the Hague prison to Estoniais part of an agreement between Estonian authorities and the United Nations.Martic will serve his sentence in Tartu in eastern Estonia.

Martic was indicted by the tribunal in1995, and surrendered in 2002. He pled not guilty to all counts includingmurder, forcible removal of people and inhumane treatment.

According to the InternationalCriminal Tribunal, "helped organize an ethnic cleansing campaign of Croats andother non-Serbs from Krajina where 78,000 lived and virtually the entirenon-Serb population was forcibly removed, deported or killed."

 
Martic had served as wartime president,defense and interior minister in wartime Croatia.