Krajisnik Granted Early Release

Former high-ranking Bosnian Serb politician Momcilo Krajisnik has been granted early release by the Hague tribunal president and will leave prison in Britain on September 1.

Krajisnik, who was chairman of the Bosnian Serb parlt and a prominent member of the Serbian Democratic Party or SDS, was convicted in 2006 on counts of extermination, persecution, murder, deportation, and forcible population transfer.

He was found to have been part of a joint criminal enterprise and helped to "establish and perpetuate the SDS party and state structures that were instrumental in the commission of crimes".

He was sentenced to 27 years in prison, with credit for time served since his arrest in 2000.

In 2009, however, appeals judges overturned his convictions for extermination and murder and reduced his sentence to 20 years. He was transferred to a British prison in September that year.

The decision released this week by tribunal president Judge Theodor Meron noted that Krajisnik had been denied early release on three previous occasions.

Once convicted persons have served two-thirds of their sentence - which Krajisnik will have done in early August - they become eligible for early release, although they are not automatically entitled to it. Only the tribunal president can decide whether early release should be granted.

In weighing the factors, Judge Meron noted that prison officials reported that Krajisnik "could be termed a model prisoner" and that he had "behaved in an exemplary manner". However, they also said that it would be difficult to determine the threat he might pose to society if he were released, because of his "continued denial of the offences".

Still, Judge Meron noted that Krajisnik "appears to acknowledge and accept the tribunal's final judgement in his case (even though he admits he is actively collecting evidence in support of a request for a review of his conviction)".

"I am of the view that Krajisnik, through his good behaviour during his detention, has demonstrated some rehabilitation, which mitigates in favour of his early release," the tribunal president stated.

It was also announced that Judge Meron had ordered the early release of Radomir Kovac, a former member of the Bosnian Serb military police who was convicted in 2001 of raping and enslaving women in the Bosnian town of Foca. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and transferred to a prison in Norway in 2002.

Judge Meron noted Kovac was found to have kept four girls in his apartment in 1992 and "abused all four girls and repeatedly raped three of them". Kovac reserved one girl for himself - who was about 15 years old at the time - and "raped her almost every night". He also invited his friends over and "allowed them to rape one of the girls". He eventually trafficked three of them.

The president noted that in his application for early release, Kovac states that he "most sincerely regrets all the acts for which [he has] been convicted". He also claims that he has been a "model worker" and passed an examination in furniture-making "with the best possible grade".

While in prison, Kovac was also "disciplined for having displayed threatening behaviour towards an officer".

Judge Meron noted that when it came to acknowledging guilt, Kovac "admits to having committed crimes, but not to the extent he was imprisoned for".

"I am of the view that Kovac's expressions of regret for the crimes he has committed, his positive and productive behaviour vis-à-vis his work whilst imprisoned and his successful leaves of absence from the Telemark prison are positive indicators of Kovac's rehabilitation," Judge Meron wrote.

Kovac was released on May 31, but the decision was only released publicly this week.