The prosecution in the International Crimal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) then announced it would drop all other charges against her when she appears here for sentencing on December 16 and 17.
Plavsic Wednesday changed her initial plea of not guilty — entered in January 2001 after she turned herself in to the court — because she wanted to show remorse, her lawyer said in a statement.
“By accepting responsibility and expressing her remorse fully and unconditionally, Mrs Plavsic hopes to offer some consolation to the innocent victims — Muslim, Croat and Serb — of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina,” said lawyeand their own conduct.”
The former Bosnian Serb leader, 72, had initially been accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war in 1992-1995.
Plavsic, dressed in a powder blue suit, sat expressionless at the other end of a video link from Yugoslavia and spoke only to utter the word “guilty” when the charge was read out by the judge.
Once one of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic’s closest allies, she was the first woman and the highest ranking politician to appear before the tribunal on charges relating to the Bosnian war.
But hopes that her change of plea could signal an agreement to testify against other key figures in the conflicts were dashed by her lawyers immediately after the hearing.
“There is no agreement nor have there been any discussions between Mrs Plavsic and the Office of the Prosecutor regarding sentencing,” O’Sullivan said.
“Mrs Plavsic understands she is subjecting herself to a possible sentence of life imprisonment. Mrs Plavsic has not agreed to testify in any other case pending before this tribunal.”
Earlier Richard Dicker from Human Rights Watch had hailed Plasvic’s change of plea.
“This is potentially an enormous breakthrough for the prosecution. She is uniquely positioned to provide potentially damaging evidence against senior indictees including Slobodan Milosevic,” he said.
But O’Sullivan insisted his client was taking “individual and personal” responsibility for her actions.
“The legal responsiblity of an individual, even if he or she is a leader, cannot be attributed to a group of people.”
Milosevic meanwhile clashed dramatically with his old adversary Croatian President Stipe Mesic Wednesday in a day of high courtroom drama.
Mesic is the first head of state to testify against Milosevic, who is in the dock on more than 60 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the 1990s wars in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia.
A discussion over who was actually responsible for the break-up of Yugoslavia after Croatia declared independence in 1991 became heated with both men raising their voices.
“I’m not the person on trial,” Mesic shouted triumphantly. “That’s the point!” Milosevic snapped back.
Plasvic meanwhile was allowed to remain on bail ahead of her sentencing in December. She was provisionally released on bail on September 6, 2001 and has since been living under police surveillance in her apartment in Belgrade after the court was given assurances she would return for trial.
Judge Richard May told her: “We have taken a wholly exceptional course in your case because these are wholly exceptional circumstances and for reasons of security will continue your provisional release.”—AFP