A Serbian general jailed after the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims has won more than £42,000 in damages after being attacked in a British jail.
Radislav Krstic, 66, who is serving 35 years for genocide over Europe’s worst atrocity since the Second World War, was left physically and mentally scarred after his neck was slashed. Three Muslim prisoners held him down and then cut him with a razor. He was left with post-traumatic stress disorder.
He won the damages after a court ruled that the prison service had been negligent in his care, despite security reports that he was a high-risk prisoner in danger of attack at Wakefield prison.
He had been placed on a wing holding two of his subsequent attackers, who were violent offenders with extremist views. Recorder Antonio Bueno, QC, sitting at London county court, criticised failings by the prison service following the transfer of Krstic to Wakefield. The authorities were told there was hostility towards him and a prisoner told an officer that he was a “dead man walking”. He has since been transferred to a Polish jail.
Indrit Krasniqi, 23, Iliyas Khalid, 24, and Quam Ogumbiyi, were convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in 2011.
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Kate Maynard, Krstic’s solicitor, said: “This case shows the British legal system working at its best, providing justice to an unpopular and vulnerable prisoner who was owed a duty of care.”