A former Chiswick resident now in jail for murder has taken part in an attack on a Serbian warlord serving a prison sentence for war crimes.

Indrit Krasniqi was one of three men involved in cutting the throat of Radislav Krstic, a former general in the Serbian militia. Krstic, aged 62, was serving a 35-year sentence in Wakefield prison for aiding and abetting genocide during the Yugoslav civil war where he was second in command to General Ratko Mladic. He was arrested in a joint SAS-US Navy Seal operation in Bosnia in 1998. Originally convicted of genocide at the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, his sentence was reduced to the lesser crime of aiding and abetting genocide on appeal. His conviction related to the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Krstic is in a British jail because of an obligation under international treaties which requires signatories to take a share of those convicted of war crimes at the international court.

The weapon used to in the attack is believed to have been razorblade attached to a toothbrush. The attack took place in the victim's cell in the maximum security prison. The cuts narrowly missed a major artery. He was found unconscious and it was first presumed he was dead because of the amount of blood at the scene. He has been transferred to hospital and his injuries are not expected to be fatal

Krasniqi, aged 22, a Bosnian Muslim, was convicted in 2006 of involvement in the murder in Reading of 16 year old Mary-Ann Leneghan. Before she died she was tortured by the gang who killed her.

May 8, 2010