Radislav Krstic was a general in the army of the Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb Army) and, in July 1995, an officer of its Drina Corps, the formation that took part in the attack on the Srebrenica enclave in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted him on August 2, 2001 of genocide and other crimes. On April 19, 2004 the Appeals Chamber found him guilty of aiding and abetting genocide, reduced his sentence from 46 years to 35 years, and he has served that sentence outside Bosnia and Herzegovina. Early release applications since 2016 have been decided by the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), the Tribunal's successor.
At the time of the attack on Srebrenica, Krstic held the rank of general and was Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Drina Corps. The Trial Chamber found that on July 13, 1995 he took command of the corps and signed his first order as corps commander that evening. The Appeals Chamber describes him as a General-Major in the Bosnian Serb Army and Commander of the Drina Corps at the time of the crimes.
The ICTY issued a first indictment against Krstic on November 2, 1998. He was arrested in Bosnia and Herzegovina on December 2, 1998 and transferred to the Tribunal in The Hague the next day. A further indictment was filed on October 27, 1999. It charged genocide, complicity to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, deportation and inhumane acts (forcible transfer). Krstic pleaded not guilty on November 25, 1999. His trial opened on March 13, 2000, and closing arguments were heard from June 26 to 29, 2001.
Trial Chamber I delivered its judgment on August 2, 2001. It found Krstic guilty of genocide; of persecution for murders, cruel and inhumane treatment, terrorizing the civilian population, forcible transfer and destruction of personal property of Bosnian Muslim civilians, as a crime against humanity; and of murder as a violation of the laws or customs of war. It sentenced him to 46 years of imprisonment, with the full time spent in the Tribunal's custody to be deducted.
The Chamber stated that it was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that a crime of genocide had been committed in Srebrenica. It did not find that a plan to commit genocide existed before the attack on the enclave. In its words, what was ethnic cleansing became genocide once the decision was taken to kill the men of fighting age after the women, children and elderly people had been transferred out. It found that Krstic had taken part in the genocide as a participant in a joint criminal enterprise.
Both sides appealed, and the Appeals Chamber gave its judgment on April 19, 2004. It upheld the Trial Chamber's finding that genocide was committed in Srebrenica in 1995 and that the targeted group was the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica, whom it described as emblematic of the Bosnian Muslims as a whole. It found that between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men were systematically murdered.
The Chamber did not accept that Krstic was a principal perpetrator of genocide. It set aside his conviction as a participant in a joint criminal enterprise to commit genocide, and, with one judge dissenting, found him guilty of aiding and abetting genocide. It likewise found him guilty of aiding and abetting murder as a violation of the laws or customs of war, and held that he bore responsibility as an aider and abettor for extermination and persecution as crimes against humanity. The Chamber reduced his sentence to 35 years of imprisonment, to run from the day of the judgment, with credit for time in custody since December 3, 1998.
On December 20, 2004 Krstic was transferred to the United Kingdom to serve his sentence. On July 19, 2013 he was ordered transferred to Poland, and later he was moved to Estonia, where the IRMCT records him as serving the sentence in 2026.
Applications for early release from sentences of the ICTY are decided by the President of the IRMCT. The President denied Krstic's applications on December 13, 2016 and September 10, 2019, because he had not yet served two-thirds of his sentence and no compelling or exceptional circumstances were shown. He reached the two-thirds point on March 28, 2022. A further application was denied on November 15, 2022, the President finding that the gravity of his crimes and an insufficient showing of rehabilitation weighed against release. A direct petition was denied on February 3, 2025 on similar grounds.
After Estonia notified the IRMCT on January 29, 2026 that he had become eligible for consideration under Estonian law, the President decided a further application on July 6, 2026. She found that he met the eligibility threshold but had not shown rehabilitation proportionate to the gravity of his crimes, found no compelling humanitarian grounds, and recorded: "I hereby DENY the Application."
The Trial Chamber's finding of participation in a joint criminal enterprise to commit genocide was set aside on appeal and replaced by the finding that he aided and abetted genocide. The Appeals Chamber did not find that he was a principal perpetrator of genocide, and the Trial Chamber did not find a plan to commit genocide before the attack on Srebrenica.
November 2, 1998: first ICTY indictment.
December 2, 1998: arrested in Bosnia and Herzegovina; transferred to the ICTY on December 3, 1998.
October 27, 1999: further indictment filed.
November 25, 1999: pleads not guilty.
March 13, 2000: trial opens.
August 2, 2001: Trial Chamber convicts him of genocide and other crimes; 46 years.
April 19, 2004: Appeals Chamber finds him guilty of aiding and abetting genocide; 35 years.
December 20, 2004: transferred to the United Kingdom to serve the sentence.
July 19, 2013: ordered transferred to Poland.
December 13, 2016 and September 10, 2019: early release denied.
March 28, 2022: two-thirds of the sentence served.
November 15, 2022: early release denied.
February 3, 2025: early release denied.
July 6, 2026: early release denied.