BELGRADE - Four Serbian paramilitary officers were found guilty Tuesday of participating in the Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims 12 years ago.

The convictions were the first in Serbia for crimes that were related to Srebrenica, The New York Times reported. Thousands of men and boys were slaughtered in a few days in July 1995.

The charges against the four, part of a unit known as the Scorpions, came after a video released in 2005 showed them killing six Muslim prisoners from Srebrenica after taking them off a truck. Gordana Bozilovic-Petrovic, the judge, said there is no proof the four participated in the massacre 90 miles away.

The judge sentenced the commander of the unit and his deputy to 20 years in prison. Another defendant received 13 years after pleading guilty, and another got five years, while a fifth was not convicted.

Copyright ©  2007, by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.