THE HAGUE An international tribunal, ruling for the first time that mass rape constituted a war crime and a crime against humanity, on Thursday sentenced three Bosnian Serb men to between 12 and 28 years in jail for such offenses, AFP said in a report.

Dragoljob Kunarac, 40, Radomir Kovac, 39, and Zoran Vukovic, 45, were found guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of mass rapes committed during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Kunarac was sentenced to 28 years, Kovac to 20 years and Vukovic to 12 years. The charges also included torture, enslavement and violation of human dignity.

The verdict read out by the presiding Judge, Florence Mumba of Zambia, stated that the rapes "were used by members of the Bosnian Serb armed forces as an instrument of terror."

The trio were convicted of organizing rapes and beatings of Muslim women in the southeast Bosnian town of Foca between June 1992 and February 1993, AFP said.

According to the indictment, many of the women detained at Foca during the period in question had been "subjected to humiliating and degrading conditions of life, to brutal beatings and to sexual assaults, including rapes and gang rapes."

After Bosnian Serb forces seized Foca, women, children and old people were held captive in apartments and hotels, according to the indictment.

Kunarac was found guilty on all 21 counts in the indictment against him, including rape and torture, enslavement and violation of human dignity.

Kovac was found guilty on all four counts against him including rape, enslavement and violation of human dignity.

Vukovic found guilty of four on eight counts, including rape and torture.

The charges said that Kunarac had commanded a special reconnaissance unit. In this capacity, "he knew or had reasons to know that his subordinates sexually assaulted Muslim women," the indictment stated.

The prosecution had called for sentences of 35 years, 30 years and 15 years for Kunarac, Kovac and Vukovic respectively.

Kunarac stated in his defense he had never had sexual relations with any of the women and had not been present when they were raped.

Defense lawyers for the accused argued during the trial that the prosecution had been unable to prove that serious suffering had been inflicted on the victims.

Kunarac gave himself up to the ICTY in 1998. Kovac and Zukovic were arrested by NATO-led forces in Bosnia in 1999.

ICTY Prosecutor Dirk Ryneveld said: "This is the first case where sexual slavery has been charged."