ShiningIce
3rd Level Green Feather
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2002
- Messages
- 4,702
- Points
- 36
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic expressed remorse Monday for her role in ethnic cleansing in the 1990s at a dramatic hearing to determine a sentence for the "Iron Lady" of the Bosnian war.
Plavsic could face life in prison after pleading guilty to one count of crimes against humanity at the Hague (news - web sites) tribunal for her part in persecuting Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 conflict, which left 200,000 dead or missing.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (news - web sites), Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel and ex-U.N. Balkans envoy Carl Bildt are to testify during this week's three-day hearing before judges decide on a sentence. A sentencing date has not been set.
Plavsic is the highest-ranking figure to admit atrocities at the United Nations (news - web sites) court and the only woman publicly indicted at The Hague. The silver-haired Plavsic, dressed in a green and red plaid suit, remained impassive as the hearing began.
Plavsic, 72, acknowledged she covered up crimes, ignored widespread allegations of criminal acts and "publicly rationalized and justified the ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs" in a document setting out facts underpinning her guilty plea.
"Mrs. Plavsic embraced and supported the objective of ethnic separation by force and contributed to achieving it," said the document admitting her role in killings, expulsions and cruelty inflicted by Bosnian Serbs on non-Serbs in 1992.
Plavsic avoided a lengthy trial after changing her plea in October to guilty on one charge of persecution in a move her lawyers said showed "her remorse fully and unconditionally." Other charges, including genocide, were dropped.
BITTER CONFLICT
Dubbed the "Iron Lady" during one of the most bitter conflicts in Europe since World War II, Plavsic served as deputy to Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the tribunal's most wanted men. She later took over from him.
"It is of enormous significance that Mrs. Plavsic accepts before this Chamber that horrendous crimes were committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that she acknowledges her own individual criminal responsibility for them," said U.N. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
"Many of those who survived will bear the scars for the rest of their lives," Del Ponte told the Yugoslavia tribunal. "There is nothing in the nature of a plea of guilty which in any way alters the seriousness of the crimes themselves."
Among the witnesses called Monday were a Bosnian Muslim survivor of a Serb-run detention camp who described what he called "disastrous" and "catastrophic" detention conditions.
Prisoners endured daily beatings and humiliation at the hands of their Serb captors, Adil Draganovic told the hushed court. "The conditions were disastrous, they were inhuman and really brutal," he said.
Plavsic said she did not participate with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) in planning the ethnic cleansing and played a lesser role than Karadzic in its execution.
Plavsic initially pleaded innocent to multiple counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes after surrendering to the U.N. court in January 2001. The former science professor had been on provisional release for months before returning to The Hague.
The first witness was Mirsad Tokaca, an investigator into Bosnian war crimes. "There were few municipalities in which the brutality and scope of expulsions was an exception and not the rule," Tokaca told the three-judge bench.
He detailed the pattern of ethnic cleansing: Bosnian Serb forces would make lightning assaults on villages before entering to kill and expel non-Serbs. Many who were not driven out fled in fear. Others, paralyzed with disbelief, were murdered.
In an interview with a Belgrade daily published Sunday, Plavsic said she cut no deals to change her plea and would not testify at the trial of Milosevic, which began here in February.
"I have made no deal about the length of my sentence, nor did I want any such thing. My only condition was not to testify at other trials, and frankly speaking, I would not have anything to say at the trial against Milosevic," she told Politika.
Even if she had cut a deal to reduce her sentence, it would not have meant much, she said. "What do 10 years of prison mean to me? For me it is tantamount to a life sentence," she said.
Plavsic has said she understands she could still get life despite her guilty plea and profession of remorse.
Plavsic could face life in prison after pleading guilty to one count of crimes against humanity at the Hague (news - web sites) tribunal for her part in persecuting Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 conflict, which left 200,000 dead or missing.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (news - web sites), Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel and ex-U.N. Balkans envoy Carl Bildt are to testify during this week's three-day hearing before judges decide on a sentence. A sentencing date has not been set.
Plavsic is the highest-ranking figure to admit atrocities at the United Nations (news - web sites) court and the only woman publicly indicted at The Hague. The silver-haired Plavsic, dressed in a green and red plaid suit, remained impassive as the hearing began.
Plavsic, 72, acknowledged she covered up crimes, ignored widespread allegations of criminal acts and "publicly rationalized and justified the ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs" in a document setting out facts underpinning her guilty plea.
"Mrs. Plavsic embraced and supported the objective of ethnic separation by force and contributed to achieving it," said the document admitting her role in killings, expulsions and cruelty inflicted by Bosnian Serbs on non-Serbs in 1992.
Plavsic avoided a lengthy trial after changing her plea in October to guilty on one charge of persecution in a move her lawyers said showed "her remorse fully and unconditionally." Other charges, including genocide, were dropped.
BITTER CONFLICT
Dubbed the "Iron Lady" during one of the most bitter conflicts in Europe since World War II, Plavsic served as deputy to Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the tribunal's most wanted men. She later took over from him.
"It is of enormous significance that Mrs. Plavsic accepts before this Chamber that horrendous crimes were committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that she acknowledges her own individual criminal responsibility for them," said U.N. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
"Many of those who survived will bear the scars for the rest of their lives," Del Ponte told the Yugoslavia tribunal. "There is nothing in the nature of a plea of guilty which in any way alters the seriousness of the crimes themselves."
Among the witnesses called Monday were a Bosnian Muslim survivor of a Serb-run detention camp who described what he called "disastrous" and "catastrophic" detention conditions.
Prisoners endured daily beatings and humiliation at the hands of their Serb captors, Adil Draganovic told the hushed court. "The conditions were disastrous, they were inhuman and really brutal," he said.
Plavsic said she did not participate with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) in planning the ethnic cleansing and played a lesser role than Karadzic in its execution.
Plavsic initially pleaded innocent to multiple counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes after surrendering to the U.N. court in January 2001. The former science professor had been on provisional release for months before returning to The Hague.
The first witness was Mirsad Tokaca, an investigator into Bosnian war crimes. "There were few municipalities in which the brutality and scope of expulsions was an exception and not the rule," Tokaca told the three-judge bench.
He detailed the pattern of ethnic cleansing: Bosnian Serb forces would make lightning assaults on villages before entering to kill and expel non-Serbs. Many who were not driven out fled in fear. Others, paralyzed with disbelief, were murdered.
In an interview with a Belgrade daily published Sunday, Plavsic said she cut no deals to change her plea and would not testify at the trial of Milosevic, which began here in February.
"I have made no deal about the length of my sentence, nor did I want any such thing. My only condition was not to testify at other trials, and frankly speaking, I would not have anything to say at the trial against Milosevic," she told Politika.
Even if she had cut a deal to reduce her sentence, it would not have meant much, she said. "What do 10 years of prison mean to me? For me it is tantamount to a life sentence," she said.
Plavsic has said she understands she could still get life despite her guilty plea and profession of remorse.
