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Kovac, a former Bosnian Serb military policeman who was jailed for enslaving, raping and abusing women and girls in Foca during the war, arrived in Sarajevo by plane on Wednesday after being released.
In his request for early release, Kovac expressed “sincere regrets” for his crimes and said that he had “re-educated in order to change value system”.
Hague Tribunal president Theodor Meron approved Kovac’s request, saying that while he was serving his sentence in Norway, he demonstrated “a significant level of rehabilitation”.
However one Bosnian victims’ association expressed outrage at the decision to free Kovac.
Bakira Hasecic, the president of the Women – Victims of War, told local media that it was wrong that war criminals only serve two-thirds of their sentences.
“How will victims feel when they meet the people they fear most on the streets tomorrow?” asked Hasecic.
“This is not acceptable to us and we cannot understand it. I see this as a mockery of victims”, she said.
Kovac was found guilty in 2002 in a verdict which established that he raped and humiliated three victims and sold one of them to another soldier.
He was arrested in 1999 and transferred to The Hague.
Two other Bosnian Serb soldiers were convicted under the same verdict: Dragoljub Kunarac was sentenced to 28 years in prison and Zoran Vukovic to 12 years.
