Gen Perisic was sacked in 1999 for criticising Slobodan Milosevic He was found guilty of aiding and abetting Balkan war atrocities, but cleared of one charge.
The general, 67, had pleaded not guilty to the accusations.
Smartly dressed, he sat in court taking notes during the reading of the verdict on Tuesday.
Prosecutors say the Yugoslav government in Belgrade provided support to ethnic Serb armies in Bosnia and Croatia.
They argued that Perisic had established two personnel centres to provide them with financial, logistical and material support.
He thus aided and abetted crimes committed there, including the 44-month long siege of Sarajevo, shelling in Croatia and the massacre of over 7,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995.
Perisic's "physical distance" from the crimes, the prosecution said, did not make him less responsible for them.
Links to Belgrade This was an important trial for the Hague tribunal as prosecutors sought to draw a direct line of responsibility between decisions taken in Belgrade and war crimes committed in Bosnia and Croatia, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports.
It is widely known that close links existed between the Yugoslav leadership and Serb breakaway authorities, but attempts to prove criminal responsibility during the trial of the former Serbian and Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, were ended by his premature death before the case was concluded.
During the trial, prosecutor Mark Harmon argued that Perisic had played a role in crimes from a distance.
"He never personally killed anyone, he never personally set fire to a house in Bosnia and Croatia, [but he] aided and abetted those who did all these things," Mr Harmon said.
"This form of participation should not mitigate his responsibility."
Perisic surrendered and was transferred to The Hague in March 2005, and his trial began in October 2008.
During 203 days of hearings, the prosecution called 82 witnesses, the defence 22.
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