UN Mechanism denies early release for war criminal Radislav Krstic

Krstic is currently serving his sentence in Estonia. Estonian authorities informed the Mechanism that, under Estonian law, he was eligible to be considered for parole, but the decision stressed that eligibility does not mean entitlement to release.

“Although Krstic is eligible to be considered for early release, I am of the opinion that the Application should be denied,” Judge Santana wrote in the decision. “The high gravity of his crimes strongly militates against granting him early release and Krstic has not made a demonstration of rehabilitation commensurate with the gravity of his criminal conduct.”

The decision notes that Krstic became eligible for early release after passing the two-thirds threshold of his sentence on March 28, 2022, but adds that “the mere passage of time cannot constitute sufficient grounds for early release.”

Remorse not enough

The Mechanism acknowledged that Krstic had behaved well in prison and that Estonian authorities reported he had admitted the crimes and expressed remorse during meetings with a prison psychologist.

However, Judge Santana found that Krstic had still failed to address key aspects of his responsibility. The decision states that he had previously appeared to “gloss over the number of persons killed during the Srebrenica Genocide” and failed to clearly acknowledge that, as commander of the Drina Corps, he had the power to prevent the use of its personnel and resources.

The Mechanism also raised doubts about whether Krstic had been fully transparent about his knowledge of mass grave locations.

“I have therefore doubts that Krstic is being fully transparent about his lack of knowledge concerning the locations of mass graves,” Judge Santana wrote, adding that any information helping identify missing remains would be a concrete sign of respect toward victims’ families and progress in rehabilitation.