(ANSA-AP) - THE HAGUE, 20 MAR - United Nations appeals judges have upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. Karadzic showed almost no reaction as presiding judge Vagn Joensen of Denmark read out a damning judgment Wednesday that means the 73-year-old former Bosnian strongman will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Joensen said the trial chamber was wrong to impose just a 40-year sentence given what he called the "sheer scale and systematic cruelty" of his crimes. Applause broke out in the public gallery as Joensen passed the new sentence. Separately, the judges rejected a prosecution appeal against Karadzic's acquittal on a second count of genocide in the same war. (ANSA-AP).

EU says Karadzic verdict closes a tragic page of history
Spokesperson warns away that revisionism goes against EU values

(ANSA) - BRUXELLES, 20 MAR - EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said that the final sentence to life imprisonment of Radovan Karadzic, former leader of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serbs, by an appeal court in The Hague, "closes a case relating to some of the most tragic events in Europe's recent history". "Our deep sympathies are with those who lost their loved ones and those who survived" during the war in Bosnia (1992-1995), EU spokesperson added. "The EU expects all leaders" of the Western Balkans "to support the decisions of the international tribunals and to refrain from any statements or actions casting doubt on the independence or the impartiality of the adjudication process. Denial or revisionism contradict the most fundamental European values", Kocijancic pointed out. Reconciliation within Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the whole region "requires an honest and factual evaluation" of history, the spokesperson added. Therefore, EU supports "the effective and efficient domestic processing of war crimes" in the region, "to follow up" to the decisions of international courts, she said.(ANSA).