Moments after the presiding judge rejected Gen Praljak’s appeal against a 20-year sentence for committing war crimes during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, he shouted: “Listen, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. Several hours later Croatian officials announced the death of Gen Praljak, and the country’s president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic announced she was returning early from a visit to Iceland. Herceg-BosnaIt also confirmed sentences of more than 100 years in total for Gen Praljak, Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic. They were all senior figures in Herceg-Bosna, an unrecognised Bosnian Croat region whose troops initially sided with Bosnian Muslims in their battle with the Belgrade-controlled Yugoslav army and Bosnian Serb forces. Its final first instance case ended last week, with former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic being sentenced to life in jail for genocide and other war crimes.

Source: The Irish Times November 29, 2017 11:06 UTC