Belgrade- A Belgrade war crimes court on Thursday sentenced three former Serb paramilitaries to a total of 31 years in prison for atrocities committed against Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war.

The three men, members of a paramilitary unit operating in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war, were handed 15, 13 and three years in prison, while a fourth was acquitted owing to lacking evidence.

They were convicted for the torturing of 162 Muslim civilians in Celopek, a village near Zvornik in eastern Bosnia, in breach of the Geneva Conventions.

Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said the verdict was inadequate to the crime and said he would appeal it.

The verdict came a day after Serbia arrested a top Bosnian Serb security official during the war, Stojan Zupljanin, charged by the UN war crimes tribunal for genocide and crimes against humanity.

There are three more internationally-wanted war crimes suspects believed to be hiding in Serbia or in the Serb part of Bosnia, including the UN tribunal's most-wanted Ratko Mladic. (dpa)