THE HAGUE, Feb 27 (Hina) - The prosecution of the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal hopes that the guilty plea entered by a former president of the Bosnian Serb entity, Biljana Plavsic, who was sentenced on Thursday to 11
years in prison, would encourage others to do the same, the prosecution's spokeswoman, Florance Hartmann, said.
THE HAGUE, Feb 27 (Hina) - The prosecution of the Hague-based
international war crimes tribunal hopes that the guilty plea
entered by a former president of the Bosnian Serb entity, Biljana
Plavsic, who was sentenced on Thursday to 11 years in prison, would
encourage others to do the same, the prosecution's spokeswoman,
Florance Hartmann, said. #L#
Confessing is important. The tribunal hopes that the fact that the
defendant had recognised the gravity of the crime would encourage
others to confess to their crimes, which is important for
reconciliation, she said.
Presiding judge Richard May explained the sentence saying that as a
perpetrator of the gravest of crimes, Plavsic would have received
life imprisonment had she not pleaded guilty.
The verdict itself is the tribunal's discretion. The prosecution
asked for a longer sentence, but the trial chamber cited various
factors and we accept them, said Hartmann.
Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte requested a prison term between 15
and 20 years for Plavsic, aged 72. The defence asked that the prison
sentence should not be more than eight years, since a longer
sentence would mean life imprisonment.
Last October Plavsic pleaded guilty to the charges of persecuting
the non-Serb population in Bosnia. In return, the prosecution
dropped seven other counts charging her with genocide and war
crimes.
She will remain detained in The Hague until the sentence becomes
valid, after which a country where she will serve the remainder of
the term will be determined.
(hina) lml