Appeals Verdict in the Prlić et al. Case: Croatia's Request to Prove Its Innocence Rejected

The Hague Tribunal has rejected the request of the Republic of Croatia to join the appeals case against six former high-ranking officials of the so-called Herceg-Bosna.

In the decision signed by the President of the Hague Tribunal, Carmel Agius, Croatia's request to appear as a friend of the court in the case against Jadranko Prlić, Bruno Stojić, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petković, Valentin Ćorić, and Berislav Pušić, who were sentenced to a total of 111 years in prison for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1994, was rejected, BIRN reported.

Croatia sought permission to join the appeals process in order to challenge the conclusions of the first-instance verdict, which stated that the six accused participated in a joint criminal enterprise together with the first President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, former Minister of Defence Gojko Šušak, and Croatian Army (HV) General Janko Bobetko.

According to Croatia, the first-instance verdict from May 2013 violates the presumption of innocence of Tuđman, Šušak, and Bobetko, who have since passed away, and makes erroneous conclusions regarding the alleged involvement of Croatia in crimes against Bosniaks.

The Hague prosecutors sought to dismiss this request from Croatia as unfounded.

President of the Hague Court, Agius, stated in the decision that Croatia's involvement in the appeals case "would not be of benefit to the Chamber."

- The Appeals Chamber recalls that conclusions on criminal responsibility in a specific case before the Tribunal pertain only to the accused in that case. In this regard, we note that Tuđman, Šušak, and Bobetko are not accused in this case. The Trial Chamber did not make specific findings regarding their participation in the joint criminal enterprise, nor did it specifically find them guilty of any crimes - the decision states.

Judge Agius noted in the decision that the mention of the names Tuđman, Šušak, and Bobetko in the verdict "in no way constitutes conclusions on the responsibility of Croatia as a country."

- The Appeals Chamber recalls that the Tribunal has jurisdiction only over individuals and has no jurisdiction to make conclusions on state responsibility - the decision states.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Prlić, Stojić, Praljak, Petković, Ćorić, and Pušić in 2013 for participation in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at persecuting and ethnically cleansing Bosniaks from the territory of the so-called Herceg-Bosna, which they sought to annex to a "Greater Croatia."

By the verdict, Prlić was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Stojić, Praljak, and Petković to 20 years each, Ćorić to 16 years, while Pušić received a sentence of ten years in prison, Patria reports.