Croat–Bosniak War

The Hague Tribunal (ICTY) verdict in the case against six wartime Bosnian Croat leaders "will affect relations between the two countries and the two peoples."

Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said this on Wednesday, in the first reaction by a Serbian official.

The suicide of Bosnian Croat military chief Slobodan Praljak at the Hague Tribunal diverted attention from his verdict, but the testimonies of war victims show how serious his crimes were.

Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said this on Wednesday, in the first reaction by a Serbian official.

This was announced in a statement for the media late on Wednesday, after the Appeals Chamber announced the final verdicts against Prilic and five other wartime Bosnian Croat leaders.

Their guilty verdicts for the persecution of Muslims (Bosniaks) in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1993 until 1994 were confirmed, as well as the prison terms, ranging from ten to 25 years.

Dutch prosecutors are investigating how a Bosnian Croat war criminal managed to dramatically take his own life Nov. 29, apparently after drinking poison he had smuggled into a U.N. court, in scenes that were broadcast live.

Croatia’s prime minister rejected the Hague Tribunal verdict’s insistence that Zagreb was involved in the Bosnian war, but Bosniak war victims’ groups welcomed the Bosnian Croat officials’ convictions.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic confirmed this during an extraordinary news conference, and offered his condolences to the family.

A spokesman for the ICTY, Nenad Golcevski, also confirmed the death, and said Dutch authorities had launched an independent investigation.

The UN war crimes court for former Yugoslavia descended into chaos during it last judgement on Nov. 29 when a Bosnian Croat defendant appeared to take poison to protest the upholding of his 20-year jail term.

The UN court dramatically interrupted its verdict convicting six former Bosnian Croat officials of wartime crimes against Bosniaks when defendant Slobodan Praljak declared that he had taken poison.

The UN court hands down its final verdict on Wednesday on the appeal by six former officials from the unrecognised wartime Bosnian Croat statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia against convictions for crimes against humanity.