Bosnian-Croat war criminal dies after drinking poison in UN court

The convicted wartime commander of Bosnian-Croat forces, Slobodan Praljak, died after he drank poison seconds after a United Nations judges turned down his appeal against a 20-year sentence for war crimes against Bosnian Muslims on Wednesday, a court spokesperson said.

Court spokesman Nedad Golcevski told reporters that Praljak had been rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died.

UN judges were handing down judgement in the appeals case of six former Bosnian-Croat political and military leaders, in the court's final verdict for war crimes committed during the bloody 1990s break-up of Yugoslavia.

Seconds after his sentence was upheld, former military commander Slobodan Praljak, 72, shouted out angrily, "Praljak is not a criminal. I reject your verdict."

He then raised a small brown bottle to his lips, and drank it down in full view of the cameras filming the hearing.

The unprecedented scenes came just after the judges also upheld a 25-year prison term against Jadranko Prlic, the former prime minister of a breakaway Bosnian Croat statelet, and a 20-year term for its former defence minister Bruno Stojic.

But the hearing was then quickly suspended as Praljak's lawyer shouted out, "My client says he has taken poison."

TRT World's Christine Pirovolakis reports.

Chaotic scenes

As court officials surrounded grey-haired and bearded Praljak, presiding judge Carmel Agius immediately ordered the proceedings suspended and the curtains screening the courtroom were abruptly closed to the public.

Within minutes an ambulance arrived outside the tribunal in The Hague, while a helicopter hovered overhead.

Several emergency rescue workers rushed into the building carrying equipment in backpacks. A court guard later appealed for calm, saying Praljak was alive and "receiving all necessary medical attention." 

Praljak was specifically charged with ordering the destruction of Mostar's 16th-century bridge in November 1993, which judges in the first trial had said "caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population."

A symbol of Bosnia's devastation in the war, the Ottoman-era bridge was later rebuilt. But the city saw the worst of the Croat-Muslim clashes, with nearly 80 percent of the city's east destroyed in the fighting.

The case has been keenly watched in Zagreb, and the appeal judges said that all six men, who had been found guilty of taking part in a scheme to remove Bosnian Muslims, "remained convicted of numerous and very serious crimes."

They have not yet passed judgement on the remaining three defendants: Milivoj Petkovic, 68, Valentin Coric, 61, and Berislav Pusic, 65.

The bloody 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, in which 100,000 people died and 2.2 million were displaced, mainly pitted Bosnian Muslims against Bosnian Serbs, but also saw some brutal fighting between Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats after an initial alliance fell apart.