Biljana Plavšić, convicted Bosnian Serb leader, dies at 96

Biljana Plavšić, a former Bosnian Serb political leader and convicted war criminal, has died in Belgrade at the age of 96.

During the Bosnian War in the 1990s, Plavšić held high-ranking positions, including co-vice-president of Republika Srpska from 1992 to 1996, and later served as its president. She was a central figure in the nationalist movement alongside leaders such as Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić.

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted her on various charges, including genocide, crimes against humanity, and persecution. In 2002, she entered a landmark guilty plea, admitting to crimes against humanity specifically regarding the political, racial, and religious persecution of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats across 37 municipalities. Following her plea, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison.