Biljana Plavsic sentenced to 11 years

Biljana Plavsic, 72, is to spend eleven years in jail for crimes against humanity. She was sentenced today by the ICT in The Hague after having pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting. instigating and planning persecutions of Muslim and Croat populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995.

Judge Richard May considered that Biljana Plavsic disregarded evidence of war crimes and tried to justify these in public. In sentencing Mrs. Plavsic, he declared: "No sentence can fully reflect the horror of what occurred or the terrible impact on thousands of victims” while taking into account the guilty plea, the defendant’s expression of remorse and desire for reconciliation, her voluntary surrender and her post-conflict conduct and age.

Mrs. Plavsic had previously declared that all sides should admit their crimes as part of the process of reconciliation in Bosnia and had stated that she hoped her act of admitting responsibility would encourage others to begin a process of reconciliation with their neighbours.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru