The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal announced yesterday it has approved the early release from prison of former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic after she served two-thirds of her 11-year sentence for persecution.
The decision means that one of the most senior political leaders ever convicted by the UN court will likely walk free next month from the prison in Sweden where she has been jailed.
Plavsic, 79, was sentenced in 2003 after pleading guilty to a single count of persecution, a crime against humanity,as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign to drive Muslims and Croats out of Serbcontrolled areas of Bosnia. As part of her plea bargain other charges, including genocide, were dropped.
The campaign destroyed 850 Muslim and Croat villages and included 1,100 documented mass murders, according to prosecutors.
Tribunal President Patrick Robinson said in a decision released yesterday that Plavsic should be released "notwithstanding the gravity of her crimes".
Plavsic is one of the few suspects to admit their crimes at the tribunal.
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