A Bosnian court sentenced on Thursday a former Serb military policeman to seven years in jail over his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

Mladen Blagojevic, 37, was found guilty of `persecuting the civilian Bosniak (Muslim) population on political, national, ethnic, cultural and religious grounds, with a view to inflicting serious bodily injuries,` the court of Bosnia-Hercegovina said in a statement.

His co-accused Zdravko Bozic, Zeljko Zaric and Zoran Zivanovic were acquitted and released, the court said.

Blagojevic and Bozic were deported in 2006 from the United States after authorities there discovered they obtained permanent residence while lying about their past.

Serb forces took control of Srebrenica near the end of Bosnia`s 1992-1995 war before summarily killing around 8,000 Muslim men and boys within a few days.

The massacre, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II, has been classified as an act of genocide by the International Court of Justice and the UN war crimes tribunal, both based in The Hague.

Local Bosnian authorities try low-profile war crimes cases, while the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is tasked with hearing cases involving top wartime officials.

Bosnia`s war claimed some 100,000 lives, while some 2.2 million people, more than half of the population, fled their homes.