Jailed Bosnian Serb general says he aided and abetted Srebrenica genocide

A Bosnian Serb general jailed by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre has confessed to having “aided and abetted the genocide”.

Survivors and families of the more than 8,300 people who died in the mass killing reacted with scepticism to the confession by Radislav Krstić, a corps commander who led the assault on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica and oversaw the execution of captured men and boys.

The campaign groups Mothers of Srebrenica and the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide suggested the confession was a ploy to win early release. They said others convicted of war crimes from the Bosnian war had made confessions only to recant once they were released.

“This kind of behaviour is a continuation of the already established practice of war criminals who are trying to get free in every possible way,” the groups said in a joint statement.