Serbian leader confesses to war crimes
Are we getting closer to the truth of what actually happened during the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia? Perhaps, now that Biljana Plavsic, the former Bosnian Serb President, has confessed to crimes against humanity as part of a plea bargain agreement.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Bosnian Serb leader on Wednesday became the first high official to express remorse publicly for the war and bloodshed in the Balkans and to plead guilty of crimes against humanity.
The decision by the official, Biljana Plavsic...opens the door for her potentially crucial testimony against Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, or other leaders involved in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
As part of the plea agreement, all other charges against Plavsic will be dropped, including genocide. Immediately after her guilty plea, her lawyer at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague said that no deal had been made involving her sentence or testimony. But under court rules, Plavsic can be compelled to testify.
Eugene O'Sullivan, co-counsel to Plavsic, said in a statement that "by accepting responsibility and expressing her remorse fully and unconditionally," she hoped to offer some consolation to the victims, Muslim, Croat and Serb, of the Bosnian war in which many thousands were killed or imprisoned and uncounted others were driven from their homes. He added that she understands "that she is subjecting herself to a possible sentence of life imprisonment."
Her guilty plea took most court watchers by surprise.
"Here you have a main player in the war facing the truth," Florence Hartmann, spokesman for the prosecutor, told reporters after the plea. "We hope others will accept their responsibility for the past events. It's the first time a high-level Serb leader expresses remorse and reaches out to the victims."
The only woman publicly accused of war crimes by the tribunal, Plasvic surrendered to the court in January 1991. At first she pleaded not guilty to eight counts of war crimes, including genocide, related to her role as the vice president of the Bosnian Serbs during the war. She was close to Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian leader, whom she succeeded after the war.
My hope is that the capitulation of Plavsic will serve to tighten the noose around the necks of Slobodan Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic, and Ratko Mladic. Bringing this trio to justice will be (and has been) a slow, laborious process, but one that must be continued to its conclusion.
