Three guilty of attacking war criminal Radislav Krstic

Radislav Krstic suffered serious injuries in an attack at Wakefield prison last year

Three Muslim prisoners have been found guilty of a revenge attack on a Bosnian war criminal in Wakefield jail.

Indrit Krasniqi, Iliyas Khalid and Quam Ogumbiyi were found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Radislav Krstic, 62, was serving a 35-year sentence in the jail for his part in the killing of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 when attacked.

He was attacked last May by the men. They were cleared of attempted murder.

All three, who are serving life sentences entered Krstic's cell at Wakefield Prison on 7 May and slashed him with blades.

He suffered severe wounds to his face and neck including a 5in (12cm) slash across his neck.

During the court case Julian Goose QC for the prosecution said the motive for the attack was as a "punishment or revenge".

"This was, we say as the prosecution, a planned and determined attack in which the three defendants intended to kill Radislav Krstic.

"The three defendants are practising Muslims.

"He [Krstic] is a Bosnian Serb national who was serving a 35-year sentence for his involvement as a General-Major in the Bosnian Serb Army which killed many Bosnian Muslim men in Srebrenica in 1995."

Krstic previously told the court he thought he was going to die when he was attacked.

Srebrenica genocide

He said he was pinned down by one man while the other two cut him as he started losing consciousness.

During the case, the court was told that Krstic was implicated in the genocide of 8,100 Muslim men and boys.

He said he was 50 miles (80km) from Srebrenica when the killings took place and was "flabbergasted" when he heard about it.

But said: "I was morally responsible due to the rank I was."

Krstic was convicted of genocide at the International Court for the Former Yugoslavia, in The Hague, in 2001 and was sentenced to 46 years in prison.

An appeal court reduced the conviction to aiding and abetting genocide and his sentence was cut to 35 years.

He was transferred to the UK to serve his sentence in 2004 because the UK has a treaty obligation to take some prisoners from the War Crimes Tribunal.