Former Bosnian Serb president Ms Biljana Plavsic surrendered to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for former Yugoslavia today and will answer charges of genocide in court this week, the tribunal said.
The 70-year-old former biology professor learnt that she had been indicted for war crimes including genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war and gave herself up voluntarily, a tribunal spokesman told a news conference.
The tribunal has scheduled an initial appearance for Thursday morning.
During the war Ms Plavsic was deputy to Bosnian Serb leader Mr Radovan Karadzic. She took over from him when he was forced from office in 1996. Karadzic and Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic are the tribunal's top Bosnian Serb indictees.
Both remain at large but several Bosnian Serb military commanders are already in The Hague, as is wartime Bosnian Serb parliament speaker Momcilo Krajsnik. Reuters