Bosnia War Criminal Died From Drinking 'Potassium Cyanide'
A post-mortem on a former Croatian general who died after swallowing a liquid at a war crimes hearing has found he had cyanide in his body.
The Hague Public Prosecutor's Office said that preliminary results from a toxicological test revealed "a concentration of potassium cyanide" in Slobodan Praljak's blood.
The cyanide caused heart failure that the statement described as the 72-year-old's "suspected cause of death".
Praljak drank from a small bottle seconds after an appeals judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia confirmed his 20-year sentence for crimes during the 1992-95 Bosnian war
Two Croatian experts observed the post-mortem at the tribunal's request.
International Criminal Tribunal
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said its review will complement an investigation by Dutch prosecutors into Slobodan Praljak's death last Wednesday.
The announcement came after Croatia's justice minister called into question the speed of responses by security and medical staff after Praljak swallowed what he claimed was poison.
It remains unclear how Praljak got the bottle and managed to smuggle it into the courtroom.
The tribunal's review will begin next week and be led by Hassan Jallow, a former prosecutor with the UN's Rwanda war crimes tribunal.
It aims to file a report by December 31 when the tribunal formally closes its doors for the last time, having completed all its cases.
The court said Mr Jallow "is mandated to undertake an assessment of relevant existing procedures as well as make any recommendations which may assist other courts in the future".
The Netherlands Forensic Institute said it will conduct a post-mortem on Praljak's body, but it is not clear when that will happen.
Croatia's justice minister Drazen Bosnjakovic said the country will ask Dutch authorities to be included in the investigation into Praljak's death.
Mr Bosnjakovic told Croatian state TV: "Much remains unclear, including how the poison was taken in, why security didn't react in time and why medical help arrived so late."
He added that Croatia wants "all facts cleared about this tragic event".
Speaking on Thursday at Zagreb airport, Praljak's lawyer Nika Pinter told Croatia's Nova TV she did not know how he managed to get the bottle past security.
"But that was his decision, his decision," Ms Pinter said. "He would not want to live for one day with handcuffs on his hands, and (the) stigma of war criminal on his back."
Croatian politicians held a moment of silence for him and the victims of the conflict, saying "let the death of General Praljak be the last act of the war".
Dutch prosecutors said a post-mortem examination will be carried out soon.
"I am not a war criminal!"
The final hearing at the United Nations war crimes tribunal was dramatically halted when the former Bosnian Croat military chief claimed to have taken poison.
Slobodan Praljak yelled:
"I am not a war criminal!"
...and appeared to drink from a small bottle seconds after judges reconfirmed his 20-year prison sentence for involvement in a campaign to drive Muslims out of a would-be Bosnian Croat ministate in Bosnia in the early 1990s.
According to the BBC, the courtroom was seen to be in a state of confusion before the curtains were lowered.
The judge called for the glass Praljak had drunk from to be kept, and reports have emerged suggesting that an ambulance was called.
The hearing was the final case at the groundbreaking tribunal before it closes its doors next month.
It indicted 161 suspects and convicted 90 of them.
The appeals judges upheld a key finding that late Croat president Franjo Tudjman was a member of a plan to create a Croat mini-state in Bosnia.
Two other suspects had also had their sentences upheld before the hearing was halted.
Cover photo courtesy of ICTY.
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