The Hague, Netherlands
Milan Babic, the former leader of Croatia’s rebel Serbs and a strong ally of Slobodan Milosevic, reportedly killed himself this week in his jail cell in The Hague. Babic, 50, created the breakaway Krajina Serb Republic and ruthlessly expelled Croats from the Serb-dominated region in one of the worst acts of ethnic cleansing in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He pleaded guilty in 2003 to a single count and received a 13-year sentence, which he was serving in an undisclosed location. But Babic was transferred to The Hague temporarily to testify for the prosecution in the trial of another Croatian Serb. Babic had previously expressed regret for his crimes, but officials said he didn’t seem to be suicidal. Dutch authorities refused to reveal his method of suicide.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Exploring Georgia's southern highlandsThe Week Recommends Visit Javakheti, Georgia's 'lake district', and meet the last-remaining 'spirit wrestlers' in the region
-
Delivery drivers face continuing heat danger with Trump's OSHA pickThe Explainer David Keeling is the former head of UPS and also worked at Amazon
-
Is that the buzzing sound of climate change worsening sleep apnea?Under the radar Catching diseases, not those ever-essential Zzs
