The Appeals Chamber of the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague unanimously ruled that the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims was genocide, according to an April 19 press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The appeals judges also reduced the genocide charge and the prison sentence of Radislav Krstic, a former Bosnian Serb commander, from 46 years to 35 years in connection with the massacre, which took place July 10-19, 1995.

The judges found Krstic guilty of aiding and abetting genocide, overturning the more serious genocide conviction passed down in August 2001. It also set aside his conviction as a participant in murder and instead found him guilty of aiding and abetting murder as a violation of the laws or customs of war.

According to the ICTY press release, between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men in Srebrenica, which is located in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, were systematically murdered by the Bosnian Serb Army in July 1995. Krstic, together with Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, led the troops that took the enclave.

The judgment was announced following an appeal by both the prosecution and defense in connection with the August 2001 conviction of Krstic for genocide. The defense sought a lesser sentence, while the prosecution wanted life imprisonment.

The ICTY press release, which provides details of the Appeals Chamber decisions, is available at http://www.un.org/icty/latest/index.htm