'An honourable man': Bosnian Serb military

The Bosnian Serb military holds war crimes suspect Radislav Krstic in high regard if the account it gave of the general at the time of his arrest by Sfor in December 1998 is anything to go by.

The following is the statement released by the Serb Republic Army's General Staff on the one-legged general, as carried by the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA:

"Gen Krstic is an exceptionally honourable and highly moral man, an exceptional patriot and humanitarian.

"He is known throughout the Serb Republic and further afield as a disciplined, brave, capable and patriotic officer and commander. He is especially respected and loved in the River Drina valley [in eastern Bosnia], Birac and Serb Sarajevo.

"He was born in the village of Nedjeljista in the municipality of Vlasenica on 15th February 1948. He has exemplary relations with his family, his wife, daughter and other relatives.

"He finished secondary school in Han Pijesak. He finished all military academies: the land forces military academy, the command-staff school and the national defence school. In the former Yugoslav People's Army he held many command posts, including unit commander, battalion commander, staff chief and brigade commander.

"He became active in the war-affected areas in former Bosnia-Hercegovina immediately after the war broke out.

"During the war he was the commander of the 2nd Romanija brigade, the chief of a corps staff and the commander of the Drina Corps. "He was promoted to the rank of colonel and major-general during the war. He was awarded with the Karadjordje star medal.

"He was seriously wounded in the area between Pjenovac and Olovac and he is without a leg. "After the war, he was involved in the Serb Republic Army's development and promoted to the rank of Lt-Col-Gen for his services in peace-time."

Source: Russia, BBC Monitoring, Caversham

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.