Bosnian Serb ex-leader set free

The UN war crimes court has granted early freedom to former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic who was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2003.

Plavsic, 79, has already served six years in a Swedish jail for the war crimes she committed while she was president. Her good behavior has been termed as the reason for releasing her from prison. She returned to her home in Belgrade on Tuesday.

"I'm happy to be here ... but, after nine years in prison, I don't know what will happen," Plavsic said briefly as she entered her apartment building. She said that she needed some time to rest.

The head of Sweden's prison service, Lars Nylen, said Plavsic has been the only woman among the 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia.

A former academic, she is said to have spent most of her time in detention cooking and baking: a substantial change from her wartime reputation as the "Serbian Iron Lady", famous for comments like: "Muslims are the genetic defect on the Serbian body."

In an emotional speech at a sentencing hearing, she told judges that the Bosnian Serb leadership, "of which I was a necessary part, led an effort which victimized countless innocent people."

She added that, "The knowledge that I am responsible for such human suffering and for soiling the character of my people will always be with me."

Her confession shocked nationalists, turning her from a hero to a traitor to their wartime cause of creating a "Greater Serbia."

Bosnian Muslim survivors of a 1995 massacre in Srebrenica - the worst carnage in Europe since World War II - were furious over the early release, in part prompted by the lenient Swedish penalty laws.

Hajra Mulic, who lost her son in the Bosnian Serb killing spree, said: "Plavsic is a disgrace and her release is a disgrace."

Plavsic, who surrendered voluntarily to the tribunal in January 2001, was transferred to Sweden after the sentencing in 2003. While in a women's prison there, she has kept herself busy by walking and baking, Robinson said in a statement.