Sweden Rejects War Criminal Plavsic Pardon Request

Sweden has rejected a pardon request from war criminal Biljana Plavsic.

Sweden has rejected a pardon request from war criminal Biljana Plavsic, who will serve out the rest of her 11-year sentence in the Nordic country, the Justice Ministry said on Thursday.

Plavsic, the former Bosnian Serb president, was convicted in 2003 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia for her part in the persecution of Bosnian Muslims in the war from 1992 to 1995.

She is serving the sentence in Sweden and applied for a pardon in January.

Plavsic, 76, made the request on the grounds of age, high blood pressure and a hip inflammation.

"Today, the government rejected the request for pardoning Mrs. Biljana Plavsic," the ministry said in a statement.

Plavsic also said she had been threatened by two Muslim prisoners and was housed with hardened criminals.

Bosnia's U.N. ambassador had also requested Plavsic's release on humanitarian grounds. Plavsic has been in the Hinseberg women's prison in central Sweden, about 180 km (110 miles) west of Stockholm.