Bosnian Croat Ex-Military Chief Appeals for Acquittal

Praljak was the third of six Praljak political and military leaders from the unrecognised Herzeg-Bosna wartime statelet to launch an appeal this week against their convictions for crimes against the Bosniak population in 1993 and 1994.

In May 2013, the UN Tribunal sentenced Praljak, the former chief of the Main Headquarters of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO – the armed forces of Herzeg-Bosna – to 20 years in prison.

But Praljak’s defence lawyer Natasa Faveau-Ivanovic said the first-instance verdict was “imprecise, confusing, unintelligible and contradictory”.

She said the first instance chamber “made up and fabricated” the idea of a joint criminal enterprise led by Croatan President Franjo Tudjman and involving Praljak and other Herzeg-Bosna officials.

The joint criminal enterprise was aimed at establishing “a Croatian entity whose borders would partially follow the borders of the Banate of Croatia from 1939” through the forcible and permanent deportation of the Bosniak population from eight municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But Faveau-Ivanovic said that Tudjman did not want the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“He always objected to it. The idea was put on the table by the international community,” she said.

She also contested the verdict’s assertion that the Croat forces “occupied” some territories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, insisting that Bosnian Croats could not have occupied the country in which they lived.

She also said that the HVO was a part of the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with the Bosnian Army.

“Croatia did not participate in the Bosnian war”, although it armed and logistically supported the Bosniak forces, she added.

She further insisted it had not been proved that Praljak and the HVO were responsible for the destruction of the iconic Old Bridge in Mostar.

Nika Pinter, Praljak’s second defence lawyer, said the defendant did not know about the massacre of 36 Bosniak civilians in the village of Stupni Do which was committed by the HVO, according to the verdict, or about detention camps in Dretelj and Gabela, where Bosniaks were held.

Praljak’s was the third of six appeals this week and early next week by former senior Herzeg-Bosna officials.

They were all of convicted in May 2013 of crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions committed between 1992 and 1994.

Praljak, Jadranko Prlic, Brono Stojic, Milivoje Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic all held senior political or military roles from 1992 to 1994.

Prlic was the Herzeg-Bosna prime minister, Stojic was its defence minister, Petkovic was the deputy commander of the Croatian Defence Council, Coric was former commander of the Croatian Defence Council military police, while Pusic was the president of Herzeg-Bosna’s prisoner exchange commission.

Under the first-instance verdict, Prlic was jailed for 25 years, Stojic, Praljak and Petkovic for 20 years each, Coric for 16 years and Pusic for ten years.

The defence appeals hearings will continue until March 27.

The prosecution will then lay out its appeal on March 28, hoping to persuade judges to almost double the men’s sentences.