Bosnian Croat war criminal Slobodan Praljak died in hospital on Wednesday after drinking poison in a dramatic courtroom scene after United Nations (UN) judges upheld his 20-year sentence, Croatia's state-run news agency said.
The 72-year-old died in hospital according to the HINA agency, which quoted a source close to Praljak after he drank from a brown bottle at his appeal judgement at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
UN judges were handing down judgement in the appeals case of six former Bosnian Croat political and military leaders, in the court's final verdict for war crimes committed during the bloody 1990s break-up of Yugoslavia.
Seconds after his sentence was upheld, former military commander Slobodan Praljak, 72, shouted out angrily: “Praljak is not a criminal. I reject your verdict”.
