Croatian Serb admits guilt

last updated 8 January 2015

The Hague

The wartime leader of Croatia’s Serbs pleaded guilty this week to the “persecution” of Croats during the Balkan wars. In exchange for his guilty plea, in which Milan Babic admitted to leading an ethnic-cleansing campaign but denied knowledge of the murder of civilians, prosecutors will drop four other war-crimes charges. He faces 11 years in prison. Babic said he felt “a deep sense of shame” for his actions, which resulted in the deportation or killing of some 80,000 Croats and Muslims from the Krajina region in 1992. “My regret is the pain I have to live with for the rest of my life,” Babic said. “I ask my brother Croats to forgive us, their brother Serbs.”