War Criminal Drinks Alleged Poison

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A war criminal died on Wednesday after drinking an apparent poison in the judicial hearing of the Hague Court in which he was sentenced to twenty years in prison for committing atrocities during the conflict in Bosnia in the 1990s.

"Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal," the former Bosnian-Croat military man said after leaning back to take the contents of a small bottle, to the dismay of the lawyers, judges and officials present in one of the court rooms of United Nations created to judge atrocities committed during the dismemberment of the former Yugoslavia.

One of Praljak's lawyers, 72, who was a film director before the conflict, was the one who said to the stupor of those present that her client had taken poison. Judge Carmel Agius, who had asked the defendant to sit down, stopped the trial and ordered the emergency service to be called.

A court spokesman originally reported that Praljak was alive and receiving medical treatment, but later Croatian state television reported that he was dead.

The ex-military man was one of six Croatian military personnel who had been confirmed by the international court to prison terms for war crimes committed against the Muslim population of Bosnia, with whom control over the former Yugoslav territory was disputed.

In Praljak's case, some of his responsibilities were dismissed, but the magistrates kept him twenty years.

Those responsible for the court are expected to launch an investigation to determine how the accused managed to enter the container he had in his pocket, circumventing what should be strict security measures.