Biljana Plavšić

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Biljana Plavšić (Serbian Cyrillic: Биљана Плавшић; 7 July 1930 – 1 October 2026) was a Bosnian Serb politician, academic and scientist who served as President of Republika Srpska from 1996 to 1998. She also served as the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina alongside Nikola Koljević from 1990 to 1992, and the first woman to reach this office. Plavšić was convicted of crimes against humanity for her role in the Bosnian War. Before entering politics, she taught biology at the University of Sarajevo. Plavšić was indicted in 2001 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes committed during the Bosnian War. She plea-bargained with the ICTY and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2003, to be served in a Swedish prison. She was released on 27 October 2009 after serving two-thirds of her sentence. Plavšić was, together with Radovan Karadžić, the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb politician to be sentenced.

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