six discrete incidents , '' the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia -LRB- ICTY -RRB- at the Hague said . He was sentenced to life in prison . Sredoje Lukic was found guilty of `` aiding and abetting the commission of the crime of persecutions inhumane acts , murder and cruel treatment . '' He was sentenced to 30 years in prison . Their crimes were committed during the 1990s . Bosnia-Herzegovina seceded from Yugoslavia in 1992 and Radovan Karadzic declared himself president of a Bosnian Serb republic . The Bosnian Serbs , backed by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav military and paramilitary forces , quickly seized control of most of the country and laid siege to Sarajevo , the capital . During the conflict that followed , the Serb forces launched what they called the `` ethnic cleansing '' of the territories under their control -- the forced displacement and killings of Muslims and Croats . The cousins ' cases are a small part of the caseload the Tribunal has dealt with regarding violations of humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001 . Since its creation the Tribunal has indicted 161 people on charges of serious
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A U.N. tribunal convicted two Serb cousins Monday of having burned alive more than 100 Muslims in what the presiding judge called a part of the `` wretched history of man 's inhumanity to man . '' Serb Milan Lukic has been found guilty of burning alive more than 100 Muslims . Milan Lukic and Sredoje Lukic were convicted of crimes dating back to the early 1990s , during the bitter ethnic conflict that ravaged the former Yugoslavia . Milan Lukic organized a group of local paramilitaries with ties to police and the military , sometimes referred to as the `` White Eagles '' or `` Avengers , '' according to an indictment . Before and during the war , his cousin Sredoje Lukic worked as a policeman before joining the group . The crimes include two incidents in which Muslim men , women and children were forced into homes that were then set on fire -- and some who tried to escape were shot . Milan Lukic was found `` guilty of persecutions , murder , extermination , cruel treatment and inhumane acts , as crimes against humanity and war crimes , in relation to