War crimes convict dies after drinking poison on camera

World Today

War Crimes CroatiaIn this photo provided by the ICTY on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, Slobodan Praljak brings a bottle to his lips, during a Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Praljak yelled, “I am not a war criminal!” and appeared to drink from a small bottle, seconds after judges reconfirmed his 20-year prison sentence for involvement in a campaign to drive Muslims out of a would-be Bosnian Croat ministate in Bosnia in the early 1990s. (ICTY via AP)

Croatia’s state TV on Wednesday announced that former Bosnian Croat commander Slobodan Praljak who claimed to have taken poison just after his 20-year sentence was upheld by appeals judges at a United Nations war crimes tribunal, has died.

CGTN’s Roee Ruttenberg reports.

The 72-year-old Praljak drank from a bottle shortly after judges at the tribunal upheld his sentence for involvement in a campaign to drive Muslims out of a would-be Bosnian Croat mini-state in Bosnia in the early 1990s.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic offered condolences to the Praljak’s family and said his action reflects the “deep moral injustice” done to six Bosnian Croats whose guilty verdicts were upheld during a Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday.

Zrinka Gracaric, anchor of Croatian state TV broadcast, “Now, we have official confirmation that former general and commander of HVO (Bosnian Croat military) has died in the hospital in The Hague, after he took poison inside the courtroom. The International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia sentenced him to 20 years in jail for war crimes, the HINA (Croatian) news agency confirms, from sources close to general Praljak.”

The tribunal, which last week convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief General Ratko Mladic of genocide and other crimes, was set up in 1993, while fighting still raged in the former Yugoslavia.

It indicted 161 suspects and convicted 90 of them.

Story by The Associated Press