MOSCOW, August 9 - RAPSI. The Supreme Court for Military Crimes in Belgrade has sentenced former Serbian military leader Ratko Mladic's cousin to one year in prison, his sentence is suspended for three years, the local Telegraf newspaper reports on Thursday, citing his attorney Vesna Momcilovic.

The court found Branislav Mladic guilty of helping his cousin hide from investigators.

Ratko Mladic is suspected of committing war crimes.

The attorney said her client pleaded guilty and as a result received a suspended sentence. He faced up to eight years in prison.

According to investigators, Branislav Mladic hid his cousin from April 2006 to May 2011 in the Lazarevo village in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has accused Ratko Mladic of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992-1995.

Mladic has also been indicted for waging terror against civilians when his forces stormed the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, taking U.N. staff hostage in 1995 and killing local Muslims. The Serbian authorities arrested the 69-year-old general on May 26, 2011. He was extradited to the Hague.

Mladic had successfully escaped the authorities for 16 years.