FACTBOX: Milan Martic sentenced to 35 years

(Reuters) - The U.N. war crimes tribunal sentenced Milan Martic, 52, to 35 years in jail on Tuesday for his role in ordering killings and atrocities while installing a Serb state in Croatia during the conflicts which tore apart the former Yugoslavia.

Here are some details about Milan Martic:

* Martic, first of the former leaders of the rebel Serbs' wartime state within Croatia to go on trial before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, was accused of crimes against humanity and of violations of the laws and customs of war.

* Martic, born in November 1954 near the town of Knin in Croatia, became a policeman before Croatia's independence.

* Martic then held various leadership positions in the Serbian Autonomous District (SAO) of Krajina, later re-named Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK).

- He became Minister of Defense and Minister of Internal Affairs of the SAO Krajina, Deputy Commander of the Territorial Defense forces (TO) of the SAO Krajina and later, in 1994, was appointed president of the self-proclaimed Serb republic.

* Martic led the opposition of the largely Serb Krajina region to Croatian independence from Yugoslavia from 1991. Rebel Serbs seized control of the area effectively cutting Croatia in half, blocking transport links and ruining tourism.

* Martic was found guilty of criminal responsibility for the murder, persecution, torture and deportation of Croats, Muslims and other non Serb civilians during the early 1990s, but cleared of extermination. He was also convicted for ordering the unlawful shelling of the Croatian capital Zagreb in 1995.

* He surrendered to the U.N. tribunal in 2002 and pleaded not guilty to all charges. During the trial, which began in December 2005 and continued until January 2007, he said all he did was to protect the citizens of Serb Krajina regardless of where they were from.

Sources/ Reuters/Trial Watch www.trial-ch.org/