The international war crimes tribunal in The Hague has sentenced a former Serb rebel leader to 35 years in jail for atrocities carried out in Croatia.

Milan Martic, 52, was found guilty of murder and persecution during his leadership of the self-declared Krajina Serb republic in the early 1990s.

He was guilty of ethnic cleansing targeting non-Serbs, the judges said. Martic had denied the charges.

He was also convicted for a 1995 rocket attack on the Croatian capital, Zagreb.

The Krajina Serb republic lasted from 1991 to 1995, when a Croat offensive brought it under Zagreb's control.

'Greater Serbia' plan

The tribunal said Martic had deliberately fuelled the atmosphere of fear by publicly stating that he could not guarantee the safety of non-Serbs in areas under Serbian control.

Martic had committed crimes against "elderly people, persons held in detention and civilians" - victims whose "special vulnerability" added to the gravity of the offences, Judge Bakone Moloto said.

Martic surrendered to the tribunal in The Hague in 2002.

The court heard how Serbian leaders allegedly planned to create a so-called "Greater Serbia", annexing ethnic Serb territory within Bosnia and Croatia.