Serb 'Iron Lady' Behind Bars

A former Bosnian Serb leader sentenced to 11 years in prison for promoting a campaign of murder, rape and torture against non-Serbs will serve her time in Sweden, the Justice Ministry said Friday.

Biljana Plavsic, 72, was convicted by a war-crimes tribunal in February of persecution against Bosnian Croats and Muslims in the Bosnian war, which claimed an estimated 200,000 lives and was the worst bloodletting in Europe since World War II.

Plavsic, once known as Bosnia's "Iron Lady," is the highest-ranking politician from what used to be Yugoslavia to be sentenced by The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal. She also is the first top former leader to plead guilty there.

Plavsic, once the closest politician to wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, was indicted for planning the "ethnic cleansing" of non-Serbs from Serb-dominated areas of Bosnia. She surrendered to U.N. officials in January 2001, pledging to fight eight counts of war crimes.

But in a bargain with prosecutors last year, she pleaded guilty to one count of persecution in exchange for the dismissal of other charges, including genocide.

Plavsic accepted responsibility for atrocities against Muslims and Croats in the 1992-1995 war and asked the judges for a sentence that would be fair to both her and the thousands of war victims.

Those convicted by the tribunal serve their sentences in European countries that have volunteered to detain them. Ten others are serving sentences in Germany, Finland, Spain, Austria, Norway and Italy.

Plavsic arrived in the capital, Stockholm, Thursday night, Justice Ministry spokeswoman Cecilia Bergman said.

Plavsic likely will serve her time in Hinseberg women's prison, a high-security facility outside Oerebro, 122 miles west of Stockholm, said Jonna Hudden, a spokeswoman for Sweden's prison service.

The facility currently houses 18 inmates and has a sauna and riding stables.

Also Friday, a Bosnian Croat accused of war crimes for his alleged involvement in the murder of 16 Muslim civilians during the Bosnian war pleaded innocent Friday at the tribunal.

Ivica Rajic, 45, allegedly ordered an attack on the village of Stupni Do on Oct. 23, 1993, causing the civilian deaths.