Bosnian Serb Nationalist Arrested

Jan. 10 -- The woman the West once courted and tried unsuccessfully to keep in power as Bosnian Serb president has been taken into custody and indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

Biljana Plavsic, 70, a Serb nationalist gave herself up to the court Tuesday.

In a statement issued in the Bosnian Serb capital Banja Luka shortly after the tribunal in The Hague announced it had charged Plavsic with genocide, her Serbian People's Alliance (SNS) said she had given herself up to prove her innocence.

"The fight for the truth about the Serb people is also being conducted in The Hague before the international tribunal," it said. "[Plavsic] will defend her dignity, patriotism andhumanity but also the dignity of the Serb people.

"Professor Biljana Plavsic decided to prove that these indictments were unfounded by going before the tribunal," the statement said.

Changing Sides

Plavsic was one of the top leaders of the Serb separatist movement in Bosnia during the 1992-95 conflict and the most vocal of the hardline nationalists.

But she later split with her allies in the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) — founded by Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic who is also indicted but remains at large — and attracted Western backing by seeking to oust them from power.

Plavsic had long been associated with some of the most notorious Serbs, like General Ratko Mladic, also indicted for crimes of genocide but still at large.

She gained her own measure of notoriety with the statement, "there are 12 million Serbs and even if 6 million perish in the field of battle, there will still be 6 million to reap the fruits of the struggle."

She was also photographed kissing the hand of Serbian warlord "Arkan" Zeljko Raznjatovic early in the Bosnian conflict. Arkan was gunned down in Belgrade last year.

Looking for a Deal?

Plavsic fell out with Karadzic in 1997 and founded her own party, the SNS. She took over the presidency for a short while. The West, hoping to promote the less radical group surrounding her, backed her bid in the 1998 elections, but she was resoundingly defeated.