War Criminal Commits Suicide

Croatian TV is reporting that a former Bosnian Croat general has died after drinking a phial of poison at a UN tribunal in The Hague. Seconds after his war crimes sentence of 20 years was upheld at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Slobodan Praljak, shouted out angrily: “Praljak is not a criminal. I reject your verdict.” The 72-year-old then raised a small brown bottle to his lips, and drank it in full view of the cameras filming the hearing. “I just drank poison,” he said. “I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction.” Croatian television quoted sources close to Praljak as saying he later died in a hospital in The Hague. Dutch police declared the courtroom to be a crime scene.