BRUSSELS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The Appeals Chamber of the UN tribunal in The Hague confirmed on Wednesday the conviction of Milomir Stakic, the leading political figure in the Bosnian municipality of Prijedor, for crimes committed there in 1992 and sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

    "In its judgment, the Appeals Chamber affirmed the Trial Chamber's decision to convict Milomir Stakic for his responsibility in exterminating, murdering and persecuting the non-Serb population in Prijedor," said the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in a press release.

    According to the tribunal, its Appeals Chamber also found that the Trial Chamber incorrectly failed to convict him for deporting and forcibly transferring the non-Serb population, but the Appeals Chamber agreed with the Trial Chamber's decision to acquit MilomirStakic of genocide and complicity in genocide.

    "The Appeals Chamber found that Milomir Stakic participated in a joint criminal enterprise whose purpose was to commit crimes against the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat populations of Prijedor. These crimes were part of a campaign to persecute the non-Serb population of Prijedor, with the final goal of creating aSerbian municipality eventually to form part of an envisaged pure Serbian state," said the press release.

    Milomir Stakic, the former President of the Prijedor Municipal Assembly, is one of 14 accused convicted of crimes committed in Prijedor.

    On July 31, 2003, the Trial Chamber of the ICTY found Milomir Stakic guilty of participating in the murder, extermination and persecutions (incorporating deportation) of non-Serbs in Prijedor in 1992.

    The Trial Chamber held Milomir Stakic responsible for more than 1,500 killings and identified 486 victims by name. For these crimes the Trial Chamber sentenced him to life imprisonment, the maximum penalty.

    Both the Prosecution and the Defense appealed the Trial Chamber's judgment. Milomir Stakic also appealed his sentence. Enditem