STOCKHOLM, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Swedish government announced Thursday that it has rejected a pardon request from former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic.

    Plavsic, the president of Republika Srpska between 1996 and 1998, was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia in 2003 to 11 years imprisonment for crimes against humanity, according to a statement from Swedish Ministry of Justice.

    This means 76-year-old Plavsic will remain in Hingseberg jail in central Sweden.

    In 2006, Plavsic has applied to the Swedish government for a pardon. She pointed to her poor state of health, adding that she did not want to spend her days with "prostitutes, murderers, drug dealers, drug addicts, robbers and thieves." But the government rejected her request on April 2007.