Biljana Plavsic and Carl Bildt

Imagine my surprise when I read the news that Biljana Plavsic was released from prison today after serving a seven years sentence. The reader will recall that Plavsic was sentenced to eleven years in prison after a conviction in 2003 by the War Tribunal in The Hague. During her infamous speech to the Bosnian Serb Parliament, Plavsic asserted that Bosnian Muslims are a genetic mistake trapped inside a Serb body. Moreover, she was found guilty of genocide and ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims. The Swedish government denied Plavsic’s appeal for parole on two occasions. Her release today caused an outrage among the Bosnian population in Sweden mainly because as it turns out the Sweden’s Secretary of State, Carl Bildt, was directly implicated in this decision to set Plavsic free. He was the one who arranged for her to serve her sentence in Sweden and there is no doubt that he sided with Bosnian Serbs during the war in Bosnia.

The so called correctional facilities in Sweden are often likened to hotels where inmates can enjoy free cable TV and get delicious meals (much better than the ones offered to our school children). It is not totally uncommon that people come to Sweden only to commit a felony in order to serve a long term sentence in our prisons, the longer the better. If the pivotal function of our justice system is to deter criminals from committing a felony then no one can deny the fact that Swedish justice system has failed completely. Plavsic’s seven years in the so called prison in Sweden could not have been particularly tough given the access to free cable TV and awesome food let alone Carl Bildt’s unconditional and invaluable support. I am rest assured that Karadzic will also serve his sentence in Sweden if convicted, which in my view is a paradise for criminals, war criminals and other anti-social individuals. Carl Bildt is a notorious apologist for Bosnian Serb atrocities in Bosnia and he has never explicitly said that Bosnian Serbs were guilty of genocide in Bosnia. Instead Bildt shamelessly spoke of a civil war, implicitly implying the term “collective guilt” when referring to the conflict in Bosnia. Has he missed the convictions at the War Tribunal in The Hague? Both the Swedish government but above all Carl Bildt should be ashamed of themselves for releasing Plavsic after all the abhorrent enormities that she and her Bosnian Serb army perpetrated during the war in Bosnia. It is beyond my comprehension how you can release a mass murderer guilty of organizing and implementing ethnic cleansing. Swedish justice system is non-existent and pathetic.