Examiners have found traces of a "lethal chemical product" in the bottle Slobodan Praljak drank from. The war criminal died after a tribunal rejected his appeal of the 20-year sentence given to him for atrocities.
Image: ICTY
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The Netherlands' Public Prosecution Service will look into the death of Slobodan Praljak, the agency announced. The investigation will focus on the suspected poison Praljak took in the courtroom before the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday and whether he had received any outside help in obtaining the substance. Examiners have found traces of a "lethal criminal product" in the bottle Praljak drank from, and an autopsy will be conducted soon.
"The Public Prosecution Service The Hague has received a request of the ICTY to investigate the death of Praljak," the agency announced on its website. "For the time being, the inquiry will focus on assisted suicide and violation of the Medicines Act. "
After the beleaguered tribunal rejected his appeal of a 20-year sentence for atrocities, Praljak yelled: "Slobodan Praljak rejects the verdict with contempt." The 72-year-old then drank from a small bottle and later died in the hospital.
Initially, mostly Muslim Bosniaks had allied with ethnic Croatians against Serbs backed by Belgrade in the war, which lasted from 1992 to 1995. However, the Bosniaks found themselves fighting on two sides when the partnership collapsed. The war killed 100,000 people and displaced 2.2 million.
'Ultimate purpose'
The tribunal found the men guilty of attempting to cleanse Croat-claimed territory of Muslims. On Wednesday, judges upheld the terms given to Praljak five co-defendants, including the 25 years given to Jadranko Prlic — the former prime minister of the country's wartime breakaway Croat statelet, Herzog-Bosna, with its capital in Mostar — and terms ranging from 10 to 20 years for the four other defendants.
In statements sure to anger Zagreb, the judges upheld the original trial's finding that the men had worked for a joint criminal enterprise whose "ultimate purpose was" to set up "a Croatian entity that ... facilitated the reunification of the Croatian people."
People gathered across Bosnia to watch Wednesday's verdictImage: picture-alliance/AP/A. Emric
The ICTY charged Praljak with ordering the destruction of the 16th-century bridge in Mostar in 1993. On Wednesday, judges allowed part of Praljak's appeal, calling the bridge "a military target at the time of the attack," but they refused to reduce his sentence. The bridge was rebuilt with many of the original stones after the war.
The tribunal closes December 31 after having indicted 161 people. The United Nations established the ICTY in 1993 after the wars' atrocities — largely committed in the name of Serbia, and sometimes with Belgrade's assent or backing — had come to light, but long before the killing came to an end. Last week, the ICTY had sentenced the Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic to life for the atrocities he ordered during the war.
mkg/sms (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)
In pictures: What Slobodan Praljak and other Bosnian Croat generals were convicted for
In 2013, the UN court in The Hague convicted six ex-generals of the Bosnian Croat army for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian War. They were set to hear their fate at a final hearing on Wednesday.
Image: picture-alliance/E. Ciccomartino/R.Har
Six generals
The UN court on Wednesday upheld the sentences of Jadranko Prlić (left), Bruno Stojić (center left) and Slobodan Praljak (center) before Praljak drank what he claimed was poison, and later died. Milivoj Petković (center right), Valentin Čorić (right) and Berislav Pušić (not pictured) also had their existing convictions upheld.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/R. v. Lonkhuijsen
Bosnian crime scenes
The generals were involved in directing the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), the Bosnian Croat army that carried out ethnic cleansing in eight areas in central and southern Bosnia: Čapljina, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Ljubuški, Mostar, Prozor, Stolac and Vareš. Many victims were Muslim Bosniaks, but the HVO also targeted other non-Croat ethnic groups.
Mostar
HVO forces attacked the city of Mostar in 1993. They destroyed the city's Mosque and killed multiple Bosniak army prisoners, mainly via savage beatings. Slobodan Praljak, who was the HVO's leading commander, also ordered the destruction of the city's 16th-century Ottoman bridge known as "Stari Most" ("Old Bridge"). The renowned bridge was rebuilt 11 years later.
Image: Reuters/D. Ruvic
Gornji Vakuf
HVO forces pillaged and destroyed several villages in the Gornji Vakuf in early 1993. In many cases, HVO soldiers set fire to homes of Muslim Bosniaks. According to the verdict in The Hague, Jadranko Prlić, Bruno Stojić, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petković and Valentin Čorić helped organize and carry out the military operations in Gornji.
Image: DW/N. Velickovic
Jablanica
The villages of Sovići and Doljani in the scenic area of Jablanica came under heavy Croat shelling in April 1993. After entering the villages, HVO soldiers killed four Bosniak army detainees and abused multiple women and children. In its 2013 verdict, The Hague court determined that Milivoj Petković had also been responsible for blocking international observers from entering Sovići and Doljani.
Image: Tourism Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Prozor
The six generals were also involved in HVO attacks on a dozen villages in Prozor, including Parcani, Podaniš, Lizoperci, Lug, Skrobućani and Tošćanica. Croat forces burned Bosniak homes, destroyed their property and killed multiple men and women. In one instance, they "violently abused" between 400 and 500 Bosniak soldiers in a local secondary school. Some detainees were sexually abused.
Image: DW/N. Velickovic
Čapljina
The Lokve and Višići mosques were destroyed in the Čapljina municipality in the summer of 1993 after HVO soldiers began forcibly evicting Bosniak civilians from the area. During the operation, two women and an elderly disabled man were shot and killed. A few days later, Croat forces executed 12 Bosniak men before burning their bodies outside of the village of Bivolje Brdo.
