Bosnian war criminal dies from self-poisoning

A former Bosnian Croat military commander died Wednesday after drinking poison during an appeals hearing before the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Croatia’s state television reported. Slobodan Praljak, 72, said he drank the poison from a small brown bottle shortly after judges upheld his 20-year sentence for his involvement in the Bosnian War in the 1990s. The court charged him with ordering the destruction of a 16th century bridge in 1993, which judges earlier said caused “disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population.” Praljak was one of six former Bosnian leaders hearing their appeal results at the court. The war crimes court is wrapping up cases from Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war. Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military commander, last week received a life sentence for genocide and war crimes.