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By:
Enver Robelli
- November 26, 2024 08:00
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Radislav Krstić, the former Bosnian Serb army general convicted of the Srebrenica genocide, has now pleaded guilty to the greater crime - unlike the leaders of Serbia and the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The judges of the UN war crimes tribunal in the former Yugoslavia had no doubts. In 2001, they unanimously found Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstić guilty of killing thousands of Bosnian Muslims around the small town of Srebrenica.
A judge from Portugal then addressed the accused Krstić with these words: "General Krstić, in July 1995 you agreed to do evil. For this reason, the court convicts you today and assigns you a prison sentence of 46 years". In the last instance the sentence was reduced to 35 years.
Kristiq has so far spent 26 years behind bars in four European countries and in seven prisons.
"His trial told about the downfall of a society that lost its values, an army that lost its honor and a man who lost his soul when he reconciled (...) with evil," writes the Croatian writer. Slavenka Drakulic in her book "No one was there. War crimes in the Balkans before the trial".
In a spectacular letter, which was published a few days ago by his lawyer, Krstić finally admitted that he instigated and supported the genocide in Srebrenica. Thus he became the first former Bosnian Serb officer to admit to the most serious crime of all – genocide. In contrast, political leaders in Serbia and the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia openly deny the genocide in Srebrenica. In his letter of repentance, Krstić expresses the hope that his words will reach as many people as possible in his homeland and make them think about the terrible war crimes: "No more war, no more death because of different religion, nation or belief, no more genocide".
The former Bosnian Serb army general served several years of his prison sentence in Poland. He is currently in The Hague.
With his letter, Krstić addresses not only the Serbian public, but also the successor organization of the Hague Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, with the request to pardon him in prison so that he can spend the rest of his life in freedom. He also mentions his poor health, his age and the violence he suffered during his time in prison.
After his conviction, Krstiq was sent to Wakefield Prison in England to serve his sentence. In May 2010, three prisoners – a British convert to Islam, an Albanian and a Nigerian – entered Kërstić's cell and seriously injured him.
The motive for the attack, according to the aggressors who were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, was Kristic's role in Srebrenica. An English court awarded the war criminal a compensation of about 60 Swiss francs. As his safety could not be guaranteed even in other British prisons, Krstić was transferred to a prison in Poland.
Krstiq is not asking for his release for the first time. In earlier letters he expressed regret for war crimes, but not for the genocide committed by his soldiers. His requests for forgiveness have been rejected several times in recent years.
This time he may succeed, having served two-thirds of his sentence. In his letter, Krstiq writes that, if he is released early and if the families of the victims agree, he will visit the memorial center of the Srebrenica Massacre to honor the victims and ask for forgiveness.
"I committed an unimaginable and unforgivable crime," writes the 76-year-old. He says that he thinks about the victims of the genocide "every moment, every day". He emphasizes that he knows that the mothers and sisters of the victims "will not believe that these words of his are sincere; I also know that my words cannot ease the pain or suffering that will never go away."
Krstić is considered the mastermind of the massacre of around 8000 Muslim-Bosnian men and boys in Srebrenica. He was under the command of military commander Ratko Mlladiq, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hague Tribunal. So far, in Potoçari, a suburb of Srebrenica, the remains of 6765 victims have been buried. Their bodies were found in 570 different places, mostly in Eastern Bosnia, near the border with Serbia.
A spokeswoman for the Srebrenica Memorial Center welcomed Krstiqi's guilty plea but urged people to be cautious. Sometimes war criminals admit to atrocities just to gain freedom, she said. Then, they change their attitude.
The Memorial Center expects Radislav Krstić to cooperate with Bosnian justice and help share all information about the places where war victims are buried. According to the authorities in Sarajevo, almost three decades after the war, 7626 missing persons are still being sought.
