ZAGREB, Jan 9 (Hina) - Biljana Plavsic, former president of the Bosnian Serb entity, who according to her associates on Tuesday left for The Hague "in the capacity of a war crimes suspect", is along with Momcilo Krajisnik the
highest-ranking official from the war-time Bosnian Serb leadership who has ended up at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia's (ICTY) headquarters so far. The ICTY has not confirmed her departure for The Hague yet. There has also been no official explanation as to Plavsic's status before the tribunal but it can be assumed that if an indictment is issued Plavsic will be charged with similar crimes as Momcilo Krajisnik - genocide and the gravest violations of the international humanitarian law. Along with Radovan Karadzic, Momcilo Krajisnik and Ratko Mladic, Plavsic was one of the leading Bosnian Serb officials during the war in Bosnia. Karadzic and Mladic a
ZAGREB, Jan 9 (Hina) - Biljana Plavsic, former president of the
Bosnian Serb entity, who according to her associates on Tuesday
left for The Hague "in the capacity of a war crimes suspect", is
along with Momcilo Krajisnik the highest-ranking official from the
war-time Bosnian Serb leadership who has ended up at the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia's (ICTY)
headquarters so far.
The ICTY has not confirmed her departure for The Hague yet. There
has also been no official explanation as to Plavsic's status before
the tribunal but it can be assumed that if an indictment is issued
Plavsic will be charged with similar crimes as Momcilo Krajisnik -
genocide and the gravest violations of the international
humanitarian law.
Along with Radovan Karadzic, Momcilo Krajisnik and Ratko Mladic,
Plavsic was one of the leading Bosnian Serb officials during the war
in Bosnia. Karadzic and Mladic are still out of the reach of the
Hague tribunal.
In 1992, Plavsic became the vice-president of Republika Srpska,
which was headed by Radovan Karadzic at the time.
Known as a die-hard nationalist, Plavsic was remembered for some of
her statements such as the one saying ethnic cleansing was a
"natural phenomenon" and was not a "war crime".
"There are 12 million Serbs today and if six million were to die on
the battlefield, there will still remain six million who will enjoy
the fruits of the fight," is one of the statements which even made
Slobodan Milosevic state Plavsic should be 'hospitalised'.
She will also be remembered for her visit to the north-eastern
Bosnian town of Bijeljina at the very beginning of the Serb
aggression on the country, when she kissed Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan
congratulating him on a massacre of local Bosniaks.
Since 1990 Plavsic was a member of Karadzic's Serb Democratic Party
(SDS). After Karadzic had to leave the political scene under the
pressure of the international community in 1996, Plavsic took his
place as the president of Republika Srpska. She made a political
turnaround and abandoned people who were her associates and mentors
at the time, playing pragmatically the card of moderateness and
cooperation with the international community, which brought her
the assistance of the international community. In 1997 she formed
her own party, the Serb People's Alliance, dissolved the parliament
and called an early election. In September 1996 she was confirmed as
the president of Republika Srpska, this time in an election. Two
years later, in 1998, she was beaten in a presidential election by
ultra-nationalist Nikola Poplasen.
Plavsic was born in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla in 1930.
After graduating from Zagreb University, she built an enviable
university career, heading the biology department at Sarajevo
University for years.
(hina) rml