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Sentencing Continues for Wartime Leader of Bosnian Serbs December 18, 2002 By REUTERS Filed at 1:01 p.m. ET THE HAGUE (Reuters) - U.N. prosecutors called on Wednesday for 15 to 25 years in jail for Bosnian Serb ``Iron Lady'' Biljana Plavsic, which lawyers for the only woman to confess to war crimes at The Hague said was in practice a life sentence. Closing a pre-sentencing hearing for the former Bosnian Serb president, who has admitted crimes against humanity, prosecutors stressed the horrors wreaked on non-Serbs in the 1992-5 Bosnian war but said Plavsic's guilty plea was a mitigating factor. ``Absent the guilty plea we would have requested imprisonment for the rest of her life,'' Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said. ``I ask that the accused Mrs. Plavsic be convicted by the Chamber to a period ranging from 15 to 25 years imprisonment.'' Plavsic, 72, gave an unprecedented courtroom ``mea culpa'' on Tuesday by admitting responsibility for atrocities against Muslims and Croats, though she stopped short of apologizing. ``Anyone who heard what she said yesterday cannot for a minute believe she is attempting to avoid responsibility,'' defense lawyer Robert Pavich said in closing remarks to the three-day hearing at the Hague war crimes tribunal. Pavich said 15 to 25 years could ``only be described as a life sentence'' and recommended she serve eight years at most. Another major war crimes trial, of former Yugoslav President and Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic, wrapped up for the year Wednesday after 10 months of landmark proceedings. The trial of Milosevic, accused of spearheading ethnic cleansing in the Balkans in the 1990s, is set to resume on January 9. Prosecutors accused Yugoslavia of withholding documents critical to the trial and called for judges to force Belgrade to hand them over. PLASVIC FIRST PLEADED INNOCENT Plavsic initially pleaded innocent to numerous counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes after surrendering to The Hague tribunal in January 2001. But in October she changed her plea to guilty of one count of persecution on racial, religious and political grounds -- a crime against humanity -- saying she was filled with remorse. Other counts were dropped and Plavsic, the highest-ranking figure to admit atrocities and the only woman publicly indicted by the tribunal, avoided trial. Plavsic has urged other Balkan leaders with blood on their hands to admit guilt too. Her lawyer said imposing a long sentence on her would discourage others from heeding her call. Judges gave no date for announcing the sentence, but said Plavsic could be provisionally released -- as she has been for months -- before returning to The Hague to hear her penalty for her role in a conflict that left 200,000 dead or missing. In their closing arguments, prosecutors tried to wrench the focus from Plavsic's guilty plea back to the gravity of the killings, rapes, torture and nightmarish detention camps. ``Victims individually demand justice,'' said prosecutor Alan Tieger. ``Each of their tears...are part of this indictment.'' While acknowledging as mitigating factors Plavsic's advanced age, guilty plea and help in implementing the 1995 Dayton peace accord, Tieger said the gravity of the crimes was paramount. ``The age of the accused does not trump the significance of the crime or the aggravating circumstances surrounding the crime for which the accused is to be sentenced.'' ALBRIGHT TESTIFIES Among the witnesses at the groundbreaking Plavsic hearing were former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor. Albright told the court the killings, rapes, deportations and brutal camps of the Bosnian war were chillingly reminiscent of World War II. Wiesel asked how Plavsic could remain human ``in the face of such a betrayal of humanity.'' Reaction to Plavsic's confession was mixed. ``I honor her because she is the only one who confessed guilt until now,'' said Sanja Mandic, 40, a doctor in Sarajevo. ``It means that her guilty conscience started to work.'' Munira Subasic, a survivor of the Serbs' 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim males, was skeptical. ``I think she was well advised by her lawyers how to do it. It was great acting, well directed. It was all set up in advance so she can get a lighter sentence.'' Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, meanwhile, said Plavsic had shown bravery in assuming individual responsibility. ``That is a good approach -- for everyone to take a look at his own place in history and take his personal responsibility, and not to hide always behind a team, institutions and world politics,'' news agency Beta quoted him as saying. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-bosnia-warcrimes-plavsic.html?ex=1041257564&ei=1&en=68c7ec80baeb289e HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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