Global Policy Forum

By Marlise Simons

A former Bosnian Serb police chief who was arrested after being kidnapped by bounty hunters and turned over to NATO troops was handed one of the lightest sentences yet by the United Nations war crimes tribunal today, in part because he had pleaded guilty to most charges and pledged to cooperate with the court.

Stevan Todorovic, 44, the former police chief for the town of Bosanski Samac, was found guilty of persecution of non-Serbs and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Early in his trial, he pleaded guilty to a range of war crimes charges, including expelling thousands of Muslims and Croats in 1992 and 1993. He also admitted playing a role in killing one prisoner, beating others and, in what he called a preferred method of humiliation, forcing prisoners to practice sexual violence against each other. His reputation for cruelty was such that he became known to his victims as "Monstrum," witnesses said.

Mr. Todorovic is only the third person to plead guilty to war crimes since the tribunal began trying cases. Others who have pleaded not guilty have received stiffer sentences for lesser crimes.

The panel of three judges today rewarded Mr. Todorovic with an unusually light sentence because of his "plea of guilt," his "expression of remorse" and his "substantial cooperation," they said.

At the tribunal today, lawyers said that Mr. Todorovic, because of his position, had valuable information about the wartime political chain of command — in particular the role of the paramilitary groups from Serbia and their connections with the Belgrade government. It was a trail, they said, that could well lead to former President Slobodan Milosevic, jailed here on war crimes charges linked to the 1999 Kosovo war.

No mention was made in court of another issue that makes Mr. Todorovic's case stand out. He arrived at the court in 1998 after bounty hunters kidnapped him in Serbia, took him across the border and handed him over to NATO troops in Bosnia, who arrested him.

His lawyers at The Hague, both Serbian-Americans, contended for almost two years that the arrest was illegal. The judges issued several decisions that were at the very least awkward for NATO, once ordering that the military alliance disclose all documents relating to the arrest.

In the end, a plea bargain led to today's sentence. Mr. Todorovic, who had first pleaded not guilty, unexpectedly agreed last December to plead guilty to one count of persecution. The prosecution then agreed to drop the 26 other counts of war crimes. Mr. Todorovic also withdrew the allegations that his detention was unlawful.

The defense team believes that his actual prison term may be brief. He will get credit for the almost three years he has been in the tribunal's detention center. Once he serves time in a country in Europe yet to be decided, his sentence could be reduced by at least a third for good behavior. He could be out in about four years, his lawyers said.

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