Acknowledgment, Taking of Responsibility, Remorse – The Way to Reconciliation

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) welcomes the decision of former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavšić to take responsibility for her conduct and actions during the armed conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Her acknowledgment of the crimes committed, taking of responsibility for them, and the remorse she expressed are in the best interests of her own Serb people.  The HLC notes in particular that Plavšić’s decision opens the way to the reconciliation of individuals and ethnic groups, and to restoring the human dignity of the victims.

Biljana Plavšić changed her original plea of not guilty to all counts to guilty to the persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds described in Count 3 of the amended consolidated indictment filed against her and Momčilo Krajišnik by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on 7 March 2002.  The Prosecutor agreed in exchange to move to dismiss the remaining counts of the indictment: genocide and complicity in genocide (Counts 1 and 2), extermination and killing (Counts 4, 5 and 6), and deportation and inhumane acts (Counts 7 and 8).  In the plea agreement of 14 September this year, Plavšić said she was pleading guilty because she was in fact guilty, and acknowledged full responsibility for her actions as alleged in Count 3.

With this plea, Plavšić recognized the existence of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, that her conduct was related to this widespread or systematic attack, that she had knowledge of the wider context in which her conduct occurred, that she committed acts or omissions against a victim or victim population, that she intended to commit the violations, that her conduct was on political, racial or religious grounds, and that she had a deliberate intent to discriminate.

With regard to the factual basis establishing the crime described in Count 3 of the indictment and her participation in it, Plavšić agreed with the assertions that between 1 July 1991 and 30 December 1992, she and Momčilo Krajišnik, acting individually or in concert with each other and with Radovan Karadžić, Nikola Koljević and other participants in the joint criminal enterprise, planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted the planning, preparation or execution of persecutions of the Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat or other non-Serb populations in the Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Bileća, Bosanska Krupa, Bosanski Novi, Bosanski Petrovac, Bratunac, Brčko, Čajniče, Čelinac, Doboj, Donji Vakuf, Foča, Gacko, Hadžići, Ilidža, Ilijaš, Ključ, Kalinovik, Kotor Varoš, Nevesinje, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, Pale, Prijedor, Prnjavor, Rogatica, Rudo, Sanski Most, Šipovo, Sokolac, Teslić, Trnovo, Višegrad, Vlasenica, Vogošća and Zvornik municipalities in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Plavšić agreed that the persecutions included:

1. Discrimination against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, including denial of freedom of movement;
2. Killings during and after attacks on villages and towns in the cited municipalities, including the killing of at least 48 Muslims and Croats in Bijeljina on 1 and 2 April 1992, 30 elderly Muslims in Bijeljina on 10 July 1992, 65 Muslim civilians in Bratunac on 9 May 1992, at least 10 Muslims outside the Posavina Hotel in Brčko on 4 May 1992, at least 30 Muslim villagers in Prohovo village on 30 May and 1 June 1992, approximately 70 Muslims in the Bikavac neighborhood of Višegrad on 27 June 1992 and burning of their bodies, several hundred Muslim men, women and children in Višegrad and bridges over the Drina River during May and June 1992, 15 Muslims in Zvornik on 9 April 1992, and mass killings in another 15 locations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
3. Killings related to detention facilities, including the killing of tens of detainees in the Manjača camp from early June to 18 September 1992, 14 Muslim detainees in the Vuk Karadžić Elementary School in Bratunac from 10 to 16 May 1992, at least 266 detainees at the Foča prison from June to December 1992, 190 prisoners – Muslims and Croat women – in the elementary school at Grabovice village, Kotor Varoš Municipality, hundreds of detainees in the Omarska camp near Prijedor from May to Aubust 1992, over 150 detainees from the Brdo neighborhood of Prijedor on 20 July 1992, the killing of detainees at camps located on a farm and in the Technical School in Karakaj, and in the Sušica, Keraterm (Pprijedor), Luka (Brčko) and another 15 camps or related facilities.
4. Detention facilities, including nine facilities in Banja Luka, 15 in Bijeljina Municipality, five in Bileća, six facilities located in elementary schools in Bosanska Krupa Municipality, 16 in Brčko, three in Čajniče, four in Čelinac, 30 in Doboj Municipality, 24 in Foča Municipality, six in Gacko, six in Hadžići, five in Ilidža, seven in Ilijaš, six in Kalinovik, seven in Ključ, 17 in Kotor Varoš Municipality, six in Nevesinje, two in Novi Grad, six in Novo Sarajevo, five in Pale, 58 in Prijedor Municipality, 10 in Rogatica, two in Rudo, 22 in Sanski Most Municipality, one in Šipovo, 10 in Sokolac, 18 in Teslić, 17 in Vlasenica, nine in Vogošća, and 26 in Zvornik Municipality.
5. Destruction of over 140 cultural monuments and sacred sites, including one mosque and Catholic church in Bosanska Krupa, nine mosques and two Catholic churches in Bosanski Novi Municipality, five mosques in Bosanski Petrovac, one mosque in Bratunac and one in Glogova hamlet, three mosques in Brčko, two mosques in Čajniče and one in Medjurečje village, two mosques in Čelinac and one in Bašići hamlet, three mosques and one Catholic church in Doboj and one mosque in Gornja Grapska village, five mosques in Donji Vakuf Municipality, four mosques in Foča Municipality, two mosques in Hadžići, four in Ilijaš, two in Kalinovik, seven in Ključ Municipality, nine in Kotor Varoš Municipality, five in Nevesinje, two Catholic churches and nine mosques in Prijedor, three mosques in Prnjavor, five in Rogatica Municipality, four in Rudo Municipality, nine in Sanski Most Municipality, three in Šipovo Municipality, one in Sokolac, one Catholic church and two mosques in Teslić, one mosque in Višegrad and one in Vlasenica, two in Vogošća, and four in Zvornik Municipality.