THE HAGUE, Jan 17: Former Bosnian Serb officer Vidoje Blagojevic on Monday became the second person to be convicted of genocide charges by the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia over the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.

"The trial chamber finds Colonel Blagojevic guilty of complicity in genocide by aiding and abetting genocide," judge Carmen Maria Argibay said as she read out a summary of the verdict.

Blagojevic, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, is only the second person to be convicted on charges of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) based in The Hague.

As the verdict was read out Blagojevic, in a grey suit with a crew cut and a small moustache, sat motionless, staring at the judges. In April last year Blagojevic superior, Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic, became the first man found guilty of aiding and abetting genocide.

On appeal he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his key role in the massacre of Muslims that followed the fall of the United Nations-protected enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995. -AFP