Slobodan Praljak

Slobodan Praljak (2 January 1945 – 29 November 2017) was a Bosnian Croat general who served in the Croatian Army and the Croatian Defence Council, an army of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, between 1992 and 1995. Praljak was found guilty of committing violations of the laws of war, crimes against humanity and breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the Croat–Bosniak War by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2017.

Praljak voluntarily joined the newly formed Croatian Armed Forces after the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. Before and after the war he was an engineer, a television and theatre director, as well as a businessman. Praljak was indicted by, and voluntarily surrendered to, the ICTY in 2004. In 2013, he was convicted for war crimes against the Bosniak population during the Croat–Bosniak War alongside five other Bosnian Croat officials,and was sentenced to 20 years in jail (minus the time he had already spent in detention). Upon hearing the guilty verdict upheld in November 2017, Praljak stated that he rejected the verdict of the court, and committed suicide by poisoning in the courtroom.

Early years
Slobodan Praljak was born on 2 January 1945 in Čapljina, Yugoslavia. His father Mirko worked for the security agency OZNA.

Praljak attended high school in Lištica with the future Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Šušak. He had three university degrees. In 1970, he graduated as an electrical engineer at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Zagreb with a GPA of 4.5/5. In 1971, he graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, majoring in philosophy and sociology. In 1972, he graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art.

At first, Praljak worked as a professor and manager of the electronics laboratory at the Nikola Tesla Vocational High School in Zagreb, then lectured on philosophy and sociology, and after 1973 was a freelance artist. Praljak was also a theatre director in theatres in Zagreb, Osijek and Mostar.

During the Yugoslav Wars
Praljak drew public attention in September 1991 when he voluntarily joined the newly formed Croatian Armed Forces after the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence. He formed a unit composed of the Zagreb artists and intellectuals with whom he held positions in Sunja. After the Sarajevo Agreement, by 3 April 1992, he was made major general, received a number of responsibilities in the Ministry of Defence, and became one of the 14 members of the Croatian National Defence Council and a member of the Croatian State Commission for Relations with United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). He was the High Representative of the Ministry of Defence, and since 13 May 1993, representative of the Ministry of Defence in the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Praljak petitioned Alija Izetbegović to unblock Sarajevo but his propositions were rejected.

From 24 July to 8 November 1993, Praljak was the Chief of Staff of the Croatian Defence Council. In spite of the Croat-Muslim conflict in the Croat–Bosniak War, he sent a truck full of weapons to besieged Sarajevo to help Bosniaks. He also allowed the UNHCR's humanitarian convoy through to Mostar, which was stopped in Čitluk.

Praljak was accused of failing to prevent the armed forces from committing many crimes of which he was informed and that he could foresee, including removing and placing in detention the Muslim population of Prozor from July through August 1993, murders in Mostar municipality, the destruction of buildings in East Mostar (including the mosques and the Stari Most), attacking and wounding of members of international organisations, the destruction and looting of property in Gornji Vakuf in January 1993, Raštani in August 1993, and Stupni Do in October 1993. During 1993, General Praljak was in charge of the Dretelj camp where Bosniak men were brutalized, starved, and some killed.

Praljak was accused of ordering the destruction of Mostar's Stari Most in November 1993, an act which ICTY ruled had "caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population". However, ICTY agreed that the bridge was a legitimate military target. During the trial, Praljak denied the accusation because in the same month when the destruction occurred, he came into conflict with the commander of the HVO's so-called Punishment Battalion Mladen Naletilić Tuta which resulted in his resignation from the positions of HVO's Chief of Staff, one day before the destruction of the bridge. He said that the bridge was demolished by activation of the explosive charge set on the left bank of the Neretva, where the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina was located. In addition to the responsibility and whether it was a legitimate military target, ICTY also examined whether the earlier siege by JNA and Bosnian Serb forces contributed to the bridge's collapse. Praljak retired from military service at his own request on 1 December 1995.

ICTY indictment
Praljak was among six accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in relation to the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. On 5 April 2004, he voluntarily surrendered and was transferred to the ICTY.

In his indictment it was alleged that Praljak as a senior military official commanded, directly and indirectly, the Herceg-Bosna/HVO armed forces which committed mass war crimes against Bosnian Muslim population in 8 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina during a joint criminal enterprise between 1992 and 1994. In his role as a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Defence, he was closely involved in all aspects of not only the Herceg-Bosna/HVO military planning and operations but the actions of the Herceg-Bosna/HVO civilian police too. On 6 April, he appeared before ICTY and pleaded not guilty. He chose to defend himself without a lawyer.

The indictment charged on the basis of their individual and superior criminal responsibility, but subsequently in judgment only on the basis of individual criminal responsibility. Praljak was found guilty on (taken from the UN press release 2004, 2017):


 * four counts of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions (willful killing; unlawful deportation, transfer and confinement of a civilian; inhuman treatment; extensive destruction of property and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly).
 * six counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (cruel treatment; unlawful labour; destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion or education; plunder of public or private property; unlawful attack on civilians; unlawful infliction of terror on civilians)
 * five counts of crimes against humanity (persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; murder; deportation; imprisonment; inhumane acts)

The trial began on 26 April 2006. On 29 May 2013 the Trial Chamber judgement sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment (the sentence took into account the time he had already spent in detention), and on 28 June 2013, Praljak filed an appeal. On 29 November 2017, the ICTY trial was concluded finding him guilty, and although some parts of his conviction were overturned, the judge did not reduce the initial sentence of 20 years. He was charged with crimes against "humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions", also "extensive appropriation of property not justified by military necessity" and "plunder of public or private property through the third category of joint criminal enterprise liability", on which given his command responsibility he failed to act and prevent. He was acquitted of some charges related to the destruction of Stari Most. As he had already served more than two-thirds of the sentence in jail (around 13 years and several months), he would probably have been released soon.

Death
On 29 November 2017, during the pronouncement of the appeal judgment against him, Praljak addressed the judges, saying: "Judges, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. With disdain, I reject your verdict!" He then drank what he said was poison, leading presiding judge Carmel Agius to suspend the hearings. ICTY medical staff transported Praljak to nearby HMC Hospital, where he died.The Dutch authorities declared the courtroom a crime scene and launched an investigation. His body was cremated in Zagreb in a private ceremony.