MICT rejects former Drina Corps commander's request for early release, saying his expressions of remorse for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide do not go far enough.
Lamija Grebo, February 4, 2025
Radislav Krstic in the courtroom at the ICTY. Photo: EPA/PAUL VREEKER
The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, MICT, has again rejected a request for early release by former Bosnian Serb Army commander Radislav Krstic, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for aiding the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.
In her decision, the Mechanism’s president, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, stated that although Krstic fulfills early release conditions, she still believed his request should be rejected.
She said the gravity of Krstic’s crimes influenced the denial of his early release, and that the more serious the criminal conduct in question was, the more convincing any demonstration of rehabilitation should be.
“I welcome the fact that Krstic has made positive progress and I consider that his public acknowledgment that genocide happened in Srebrenica, and that he took part in it, reflects a level of rehabilitation and is significant, given the rise of historic revisionism and genocide denial in the region,” Gatti Santana stated.
But she added that she was still not convinced that Krstic had demonstrated a sufficient degree of rehabilitation to reach an “elevated threshold” – and saw no compelling humanitarian reasons that could overpower a negative assessment.
Last year, Krstic filed a request for early release as well as a letter in which he accepted responsibility for his crimes, about which Detektor reported.
In his letter, Krstic welcomed the UN adoption of the Resolution on Srebrenica, which has designated July 11 as an annual Day of Remembrance for the genocide victims.
“I accept the [Hague] Tribunal’s verdicts from 2001 and 2004, which established that the forces of the army to which I belonged committed genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica in July 1995, and that I aided and abetted the genocide by knowing that some members of the [Bosnian Serb] General Staff intended to commit genocide,” Krstic wrote.
Krstic wrote that he aided and abetted crimes against humanity through participation in a joint criminal enterprise to forcibly remove Bosniak civilians from Potocari near Srebrenica and participated in the creation of a humanitarian crisis that preceded the forced transfer of women, children and the elderly from Srebrenica, knowing, he stated, that civilians were being subjected to murders, rape, beating and abuse.
He said he knew the Bosnian Serb General Staff lacked the forces to carry out the executions without using his Drina Corps forces. “I would like to find myself in Potocari once again in my life, to bow before the victims and ask for forgiveness,” Krstic wrote, explaining that he would do so if the families of the victims allowed him to do so.
But Judge Gatti Santana said she did not consider his expressions of remorse entirely sincere, and not solely motivated by his desire for early release.
She noted that many families of missing genocide victims are still waiting for information about their loved ones. Given that the Drina Corps participated in the executions, burials and relocation of bodies, “it is reasonable to conclude that Krstic, as the commander of the Drina Corps, had access to extensive information about their operations”, the decision stated.
“Krstic could show sincere remorse by revealing all relevant information he has got or by convincingly and transparently explaining why he does not possess such information that could help in the search for the missing mortal remains,” Gatti Santana said.
She added that such an act would convince her more that Krstic was not indifferent to the victims of his crimes and to the tragedy of the missing persons.
In 2004, the Hague Tribunal sentenced Krstic to 35 years in prison for aiding and abetting the Srebrenica genocide.
Later that year, he was sent to England to serve his sentence but was attacked in the prison, after which he was returned to the Hague and then sent to Poland to serve his sentence. He was later sent back to the Detention Unit in the Hague.
So far he has filed several requests for early release, which the Mechanism has rejected.
Copyright BIRN 2015