Former Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic is to be freed from prison in Sweden next week following a decision by the UN war crimes court to grant her early release.
Ms Plavsic, 79, was sentenced in February 2003 to 11 years in prison after she admitted playing a leading role in a campaign of persecution against Croats and Muslims during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
She is the highest ranking official of the former Yugoslavia to have acknowledged responsibility for atrocities committed in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Last month the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said it was granting her early release, citing her good behaviour and apparent rehabilitation.
Under Swedish law, she becomes eligible for release from 27 October, after serving two-thirds of her term.
Ms Plavsic has reportedly been moved to a prison in the centre of Stockholm ahead of her release.
She has been serving her sentence at a women's prison west of the capital.
Ms Plavsic surrendered to the tribunal in January 2001 after it had issued an indictment for genocide, extermination, murder, persecution, deportation and inhumane acts.
She struck a plea agreement with prosecutors in October 2002 in which she ‘admitted to supporting and contributing to achieving the objective of the permanent removal of ethnic populations by force’.
She had expressed remorse and a behavioural report showed she had 'exhibited good behaviour' in prison.
Victims of Bosnia's war, however, have described the decision as unjust, although Bosnian Serbs say they are planning a warm welcome.
Post-war Bosnia consists of two semi-autonomous entities, the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Each has its own government and they share barely functioning central institutions.
