Slobodan Praljak

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Slobodan Praljak (2013)

Slobodan Praljak (born January 2, 1945 in Čapljina , Herzegovina ; † November 29, 2017 in The Hague , Netherlands ) was a Croatian director and military service . The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charged him with involvement in several war crimes while serving as general of the Croatian Defense Council . In 2004, he introduced himself to the court and was in 2013 and 2017 as a war criminal at first and second instance to 20 years imprisonment convicted, he escaped by suicide.

Life

Until the outbreak of war

Praljak attended the University of Zagreb and graduated from 1970 to 1972 with degrees in electrical engineering , philosophy and theater studies . To finance his studies, he worked on construction sites in Germany .

Until the 1980s he held teaching positions, worked as a director and theater director at various companies and directed television series and a documentary film. He directed the feature film Povratak Katarine Kožul (1989) and wrote the screenplay with Abdulah Sidran .

In his last documentary, Sandžak - Novi Pazar (1991), he spoke to Rasim Ljajić , the then general secretary of the social democratic SDA Sandžak , about the situation of the Bosniaks in the region.

Croatian and Bosnian wars

When the Croatian War broke out , he joined the Croatian Army (HV) in 1991 . From 1992 he performed several functions there:

The Bosnian War began in 1992 . In 1993 Praljak joined the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), the military umbrella organization of the Bosnian Croats , at his own request . He commanded the troops of the HVO for several months as chief of staff .

In the Croatian-Bosniak War , the events occurred for which Praljak later had to answer in court. On October 23, 1993, after an attack by the Bosnian ARBiH on the Croatian enclave in the area around Vareš, HVO units started a counter-offensive. According to witness statements, Praljak had consulted with his deputy General Milivoj Petković and the President of HR HB , Mate Boban , and decided to send Ivica Rajić's unit . Praljak had instructed the troops to clarify the situation in Vareš and “show no mercy towards anyone”. The HVO troops killed some ARBiH fighters and residents of the village of Stupni Do near Vareš in the course of the offensive .

Another issue in court was the conditions and incidents in three prison camps, including the Dretelj , Heliodrom and Gabela camps , in which many former Bosnian HVO fighters were imprisoned by their Bosnian-Croatian comrades after the alliance between both sides after the joint fight was broken against the Serbs. In September 1993, the Dretelj camp was under Praljak's jurisdiction. Praljak said he was responsible for disarming and arresting the Bosnian fighters, but had instructed them to be treated well. Every Croat is ashamed of the conditions in the camps. Nevertheless, the court saw it as proven that Praljak must have known about the conditions and accepted the crimes there.

Furthermore, Praljak was charged with the responsibility for the destruction of cultural property . On November 9, 1993, the Stari most bridge in Mostar collapsed after HVO soldiers shot it with a tank on November 8. Although the bridge was used by opposing ARBiH troops and thus a military target, its destruction caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population of Mostar, according to the ICTY prosecutors.

Praljak denied responsibility for the destruction of the bridge, since he had given command to Ante Roso on November 9, 1993 . In a television interview with journalist Mate Đaković in Sarajevo in 1998, Praljak said, among other things:

“Yes nisam srušio Stari most. Pazite rečenicu - ja nisam srušio Stari most niti sam da zapovijed. […] I to ću ponoviti - nisam srušio Stari most, ali bih tri Stara mosta srušio za prst svoga vojnika "

“I didn't destroy the old bridge. Pay attention to my words - I neither destroyed the Old Bridge nor gave the order. [...] And I'll say it again - I didn't destroy the Old Bridge, but I would destroy three Old Bridges for the finger of one of my soldiers. "

However, since Praljak had been in Mostar the day before and HVO troops had already started bombarding the bridge at that time, the tribunal considered it proven that Praljak must at least have been aware of the attack and had failed to report obtain the appropriate information and intervene.

Condemnation

In 2004 Praljak stood before the UN court. He and five other people were charged with numerous war crimes such as crimes against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions and international martial law before the ICTY .

The tribunal found that Praljak had failed to intervene when reports reached him in 1993 of Croatian soldiers rounding up Muslims in Prozor . Furthermore, he did not act when he learned of plans for assassinations and attacks on international aid workers. He was imprisoned in the ICTY prison in Scheveningen for 13 years and wrote 18 books during this time, which are regarded as literature of justification and exculpation .

suicide

After Slobodan Praljak had already spent 13 years in pre-trial detention, the criminal court in The Hague confirmed the previous sentence of 20 years in prison on November 29, 2017. After the verdict, Praljak said in Croatian :

Suci, Slobodan Praljak nije ratni zločinac, s prijezirom odbacujem vašu presudu!
"Judge, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal, I disdain your judgment with contempt."

Then he drank something from a small container and informed the court in Croatian:

To je otrov koji sam popio.
"This is poison that I drank."

He was then taken to a hospital where he died. The Dutch public prosecutor's office opened an investigation to clarify how Praljak got the poison . She found that he died of heart failure caused by potassium cyanide . It could not be clarified how Praljak came into possession of the cyanide.

Reactions to death

The Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković condoled the Praljaks family and called the verdict "unacceptable". Other Croatian politicians also criticized the court. Dragan Čović , Croatian member of the state presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina , called Praljak's suicide "highly honorable". The Croatian parliament issued a statement calling on the government to contest the verdict using all legal and political means.

Filmography

Director

  • 1976: Blesan i Tulipan (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1979: Jegulje putuju u Sargasko more (TV movie)
  • 1989: Povratak Katarine Kožul
  • 1990: Duhan (video documentation)
  • 1990: Sandžak (TV documentary)

Web links

Commons : Slobodan Praljak  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Indictment of the ICTY. In: icty.org. Retrieved November 30, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c Keno Verseck: After the suicide of ex-General Praljak: Croatia mourns - for a war criminal. In: spiegel.de. November 30, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Zoran Kresic: Nepoznati Slobodan Praljak - Obiteljsku kuću dao per mladoj obitelji bez stana. In: vecernji.hr. Styria Media Group, December 1, 2017, accessed December 2, 2012 (Croatian).
  4. ↑ a b c Stephan Löwenstein, Michael Stabenow: Suicide in the courtroom: How did Slobodan Praljak get the poison? In: faz.net. November 30, 2017, accessed December 1, 2017 .
  5. ↑ (photo) piše pesme za narodnjake, au politici je više od 26 godina: Ovako je izgledao kad je bio mlad! Prepoznajete li ovog ministra? In: kurir.rs . December 4, 2017, Retrieved August 25, 2020 (Serbian).
  6. ↑ a b Praljak: Bosnian Croat war criminal dies after taking poison in court. In: BBC.com. November 29, 2017, accessed November 30, 2017 .
  7. ^ The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 2001 . In: André Klip, Göran Sluiter (Ed.): Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals . 1st edition. tape 7 . Intersentia, 2012, ISBN 978-90-5095-375-7 , pp. 424 (English).
  8. ^ Baron Serge Brammertz, Michelle Jarvis: Prosecuting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at the ICTY. Oxford University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0198768579 , p. 320 (English).
  9. ↑ Case Information Sheet "Stupni DO" (IT-95-12) - Ivica Rajic. (PDF; 219 KB) In: icty.org. Retrieved November 30, 2017 .
  10. ^ Ed Vulliamy : The day I came face to face with General Slobodan Praljak in The Hague. In: theguardian.com. November 29, 2017, accessed November 30, 2017 .
  11. ↑ ITCY survey of September 3, 2009 . In: icty.org . Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  12. ↑ Emina Dizdarevic: Courtroom Suicide Overshadows Slobodan Praljak's Crimes. In: balkaninsight.com. Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), November 30, 2017, accessed November 30, 2017 .
  13. ^ A b Jadranka Petrovic: The Old Bridge of Mostar and Increasing Respect for Cultural Property in Armed Conflict . In: International Humanitarian Law Series . tape 40 . Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-21028-8 , pp. 235 ff . (English).
  14. ^ A b Six Senior Herceg-Bosna Officials Convicted. Press release. In: icty.org. May 29, 2013, accessed July 8, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Praljak u Sarajevu nakon rata: 'Znam da me mrzite, ali ja se ne bojim. A za prst svog vojnika srušio bih tri Stara mosta '. In: depo.ba. December 2, 2017, accessed April 9, 2020 (Croatian, with video).
  16. ^ Rachel Irwin: Guilty Sentences for Six Bosnian Croat Leaders. In: iwpr.net. IWPR , May 13, 2013, accessed November 30, 2017 .
  17. ^ After the guilty verdict in The Hague: The death of a general. In: zeit.de. November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2017 .
  18. ↑ Condemned General Praljak is dead. In: n-tv .de. November 29, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017 .
  19. ^ Justice: Poisonous death in The Hague from potassium cyanide. In: orf.at. ORF, December 1, 2017, accessed on December 2, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Poisonous death in court remains unresolved. In: tagesschau .de. November 2, 2018, accessed November 2, 2018 .
  21. ^ Clemens Verenkotte : Croatia after the Praljak judgment - United in the outrage over the UN tribunal. In: tagesschau.de. November 30, 2017, archived from the original on November 30, 2017 ; accessed on September 25, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Predsjednica o Praljku: Njegov čin duboko je pogodio u srce hrvatski narod. In: vecernji.hr . Styria Media Group, November 30, 2017, accessed November 30, 2017 (Croatian).
  23. ^ Marlise Simons: Croatian War Criminal Dies After Swallowing Poison in Court. In: nytimes.com. November 29, 2017, accessed November 30, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Praljak, Slobodan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Croatian director and military man
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Čapljina
DATE OF DEATH 29th November 2017
Place of death The hague