Zagreb  - A Croatian court on Friday sentenced a former top politician to 10 years in prison for the murders of Serbs during the country's independence war 18 years ago.

Branimir Glavas, 52, was convicted of the killing of at least 12 Serbs in 1991 and 1992 in Osijek, eastern Croatia, when the city and its surrounding area were under his control.

Glavas is the first and so far the only prominent Croatian politician to go on trial for crimes against Serbs during the 1991-95 war that Zagreb fought against Belgrade-backed Serb insurgents.

The 31-month trial suffered frequent interruptions, some of them a consequence of the defendant's hunger strikes.

Glavas failed to attend the sentencing hearing. His five co- defendants were given between five and 10 years in jail.

He was among the influential founders of the late President Franjo Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Glavas was the long-term head of the Osijek district and the wartime head of the city's defence, a job given to him by Tudjman.

Glavas is also a member of parliament, but will go to jail because parliamentary immunity does not apply to crimes of this gravity.

Dozens of civilians were killed or disappeared in Osijek during the siege and constant shelling by Serb rebels and the Yugoslav army.

The present leader of the conservative HDZ, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, expelled Glavas from the party in 2005.(dpa)