Bosnian Serbs jailed over massacre

Seven Bosnian Serbs taking part in Europe's worst massacre have been sentenced to prison terms of at least 38 years each. The sentence is the first by a Bosnian court for genocide in Srebrenica.

The massacre became the most notorious event in the 1992-95 war. (AP)

The war crimes court in Sarajevo said the Bosnian Serbs had killed several hundred Muslims in Srebrenica. The court said that it was impossible to determine the exact number killed by the group in just one day, on July 13, 1995.

More than one thousand Muslims had been kept in a warehouse in a small village in Srebrenica when the killings took place.

Serbia nationalists protest plans to extradite Karadzic

Thousands of hardline nationalists rallied in Serbia's capital to support former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. The Belgrade demonstration was a protest of government plans to extradite Karadzic to the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague.

Karadzic posters : A pedestrians walks past posters supporting war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic in downtown Belgrade.(AFP)

Thousands of Serbs from all over Serbia and Bosnia crowded into downtown Belgrade on Tuesday.

The protest was organized by the right-wing Serbian Radical Party. Its members accuse Serbian President Boris Tadic's new government of treason for arresting Karadzic.

Tadic had warned the protesters to remain peaceful.

Boris Tadic, the Serbian President, said, "Europe wants Serbia as a country that obeys its own laws. I cannot believe that someone could protest against obeying our own law."

It remains unclear whether Karadzic's lawyer has actually filed an appeal against his extradition to the Netherlands to stand trial on war crimes charges.

His lawyer claims the appeal was sent by registered mail before a midnight Friday deadline.

But the postal service says that it doesn't have it and the court doesn't either.

Under Serbian law, if the appeal is not filed, or if it is sent by mail but doesn't arrive, the court can rule to extradite Karadzic without considering an objection.

Karadzic was leader of the Bosnian Serbs in the 1992 to 1995 Bosnia war. One of the world's most wanted men, he was arrested in Belgrade last week after 11 years on the run.

He faces 11 charges at the UN tribunal, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide.

Serbia's government hopes Karadzic's arrest will strengthen the country's bid for membership in the European Union.

But he is still revered by many as a wartime hero for helping create the Bosnian Serb mini-state.