Israeli-Serb Soldier Acquitted of Srebrenica Genocide Charges

A former Bosnian Serb soldier was acquitted Thursday of charges he helped kill hundreds of Muslims during the Srebrenica genocide, just about a week before commemorations of the massacre's 20th anniversary.

Aleksandar Cvetkovic was tried by a Bosnian court.

Handing down judgment Judge Darko Samardzic said the evidence and witness statements "cast serious doubt on the prosecution's accusations... and where there is a doubt the court must rule in favor of the accused."

Almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered and buried in mass graves in Srebenica in mid-July 1995, by Bosnian Serb troops commanded by Ratko Mladic. 

The massacre -- which came towards the end of Bosnia's three-year civil war in which 100,000 people died -- was Europe's worst atrocity since World War II and has been labeled genocide by two international courts.

Bosnia is preparing to hold a commemorative ceremony at the Srebrenica memorial on July 11.

Prosecutors alleged Cvetkovic, 47, and other members of a notorious commando unit executed around 900 Muslims on a farm in Branjevo, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Srebrenica on July 16, 1995. 

Prosecutors used the testimony of a protected witness and another former member of the unit, Drazen Erdemovic, to build their case. 

Erdemovic, who was convicted of war crimes and jailed in 1998, was the first Serb soldier convicted over Srebrenica.

Several other members of the unit convicted in 2013 of taking part in the Branjevo executions said that Cvetkovic drove them to the site of the killings, but that he himself did not take part in the shooting, the judge said.  

Cvetkovic, an Israeli-Serb, was arrested in January 2011 in Israel and extradited to Bosania about two years later.