Once called "the iron lady of the Balkans," Ms Biljana Plavsic is the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb to be tried for war crimes.
Having pleaded guilty, she faces a sentencing hearing beginning tomorrow, and the question is whether her publicly expressed remorse will get her leniency from the UN tribunal in The Hague.
The 72-year-old former genetics professor could get life imprisonment.
But the hearing is to last an unprecedented three days, raising speculation that high-profile Western leaders and academics may plead on her behalf in recognition of her constructive role in ending the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
Ms Plavsic was a wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs and a close associate of Mr Radovan Karadzic, the fugitive most wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She is the only woman among more than 100 men indicted.
She was indicted for her role in planning the purge of Muslims and other non-Serbs from Serb-dominated areas of Bosnia early in the war.
After initially pleading not guilty to all charges, Plavsic in October changed her mind and pleaded guilty to one count of persecution, a crime against humanity.
Prosecutors dropped seven other charges, including genocide. She is free pending sentencing and the three-judge tribunal is expected to rule by next year.
AP