Biljana Plavszić, former president of Republika Srpska, has died

Biljana Plavszić was born in 1930. Before the outbreak of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she was a respected professor of natural sciences and dean of the faculty at the University of Sarajevo. In the 1990s, she became involved in politics and quickly became one of the leading figures of Republika Srpska.

Convicted of crimes against humanity

During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), Plavszić held key positions in the power structures of Republika Srpska. In the years 1996-1998 she was its president. After the end of the conflict, she was accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of persecuting non-Serb ethnic groups - Bosnian Muslims and Croats - for political, racial and religious reasons.

In 2002, Plavszić pleaded guilty before the Tribunal in The Hague. As a result of the plea agreement, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and the remaining charges, including the charge of genocide, were dismissed. She served her sentence in Sweden, but after seven years, in an interview for the Swedish magazine "Vi", she withdrew her earlier confession.

Life after the verdict and the last years

After serving two-thirds of her sentence, Plavszić was released early and settled in Belgrade, where she withdrew from public life. She has been avoiding the media in recent years and has not commented on her past. No official cause of her death was given.

Biljana Plavszić's funeral is scheduled to take place in Banja Luka, a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina.