THE HAGUE (AFP) -- The UN war crimes court on Thursday convicted former Serb commander Mile Mrksic and sentenced him to 20 years in prison for his role in the 1991 Vukovar massacre of 194 Croats.

Mrskic's subordinate officer Veselin Sljivancanin was sentenced to five years in prison for aiding and abetting torture, while a third accused, Miroslav Radic, was acquitted in the absence of evidence that he was aware of the killings.
The judges ruled that although he had not ordered the massacre, Mrksic was nonetheless responsible as his actions had allowed the killings to be carried out by local defense troops and paramilitaries.
""The crime of murder was committed during the night after the withdrawal of all military police from Ovcara, pursuant to the order of Mile Mrksic,"" presiding judge Kevin Parker of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said.
Croatia immediately slammed the leniency of two prison sentences.
""This is a defeat of the UN court idea,"" Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said. ""These verdicts are shameful and the government will do everything that they but also the tribunal's work be discussed before the UN Security Council.""
""Vukovar victims who were killed in front of the eyes of the whole world after all military actions were over did not deserve such a verdict of their butchers,"" he added.
After the capture of Vukovar by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army thousands of Croats and other non-Serbs took refuge in the Vukovar hospital in the hope of being evacuated in the presence of international observers.
On November 20, 1991 Yugoslav forces evacuated the hospital and forced some 400 Croats and other non-Serbs out. Soldiers then bussed around 250 evacuees to a secluded farm a few kilometers (miles) away where at least 194 identified persons where beaten, killed and buried in mass graves.
Mrskic was convicted of three counts of war crimes but five counts of crimes against humanity were dismissed because the court said the men taken from the hospital were not civilians but prisoners of war.
According to the judges, Sljivancanin, who commanded the men guarding the prisoners, failed to prevent them being beaten.
The capture of Vukovar by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army and Serb rebels in 1991 is considered a pivotal event in the 1991-95 war that pitted Croatians against Belgrade-backed Croatian Serbs.
The town was razed and more than 1,000 civilians were killed during the three-month siege and its aftermath.
Vukovar survivors also expressed outrage and disappointment over the ruling.
""It seems that there is no justice for Vukovar victims,"" said Vesna Bosanac, wartime head of the eastern town's hospital from which the victims were taken and killed by Yugoslav forces.
""Those of us who went through the town's siege, who testified before the UN tribunal, are deeply disappointed with the verdict,"" Bosanac told AFP.
""Apparently they (the judges) did not understand the significance of the crime of Vukovar and what these people are guilty of. They (the three) will never wash away their guilt,"" she added in a trembling voice.
""Now we can only expect justice from God.""