Investigation in The Hague: Was Praljak announcing his suicide?

By S. Omeragić

After committing suicide during the pronouncement of the verdict at the Tribunal in The Hague, the Dutch police are conducting an extensive investigation into how the poison reached Slobodan Praljak and passed through the powerful security barriers of the ICTY? This is a very serious lapse that cannot go uninvestigated. Alongside this lapse, an equally important question is whether Slobodan Praljak announced his suicide? Did his co-defendants in Scheveningen hear these announcements or learn of them in any way? Did he inform anyone from his family about this possibility? Did anyone else know about his decision to poison himself after the verdict was pronounced?

Slobodan Praljak was a particularly extroverted person, so it is difficult to believe that he kept the secret of poisoning himself after the verdict was pronounced to himself. Seven days before the verdict at the Tribunal, on November 21, a promotion of the book "General Praljak" was held in Zagreb. The book was written by Miroslav Međimorac and academician Josip Pečarić. Bishop Vlado Košić, who organized prayers for a just verdict for the six, did not attend this promotion.

A message sent from the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, was even read at the promotion: "The contribution of General Slobodan Praljak to the defense of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Greater Serbian aggression, as well as the defense of the existence of the Croatian people in their historical territories during the Homeland War, is of great importance. These days, as we hope for a just judicial verdict and his acquittal, as well as the acquittal of other Croatian prisoners, this book is published as a contribution to the truth about him and about that historical period of the Croatian people's struggle for freedom, a truth that he has persistently defended in many ways with his words after the war. At the same time, this book is a kind of thank you for all that he has done for his people.".

Why was Praljak singled out? Why such a fateful relationship only towards Praljak, in addition to others? In his closing statement before the Tribunal in March 2017, the media in Zagreb wrote: "Slobodan Praljak's brilliant speech in the Hague courtroom was on the level of Socrates'." We know how Socrates ended. He poisoned himself in front of his prosecutors. However, only journalists made the comparison with Socrates. Praljak never and nowhere identified himself with Socrates. His reaction reminded many of Göring's, as both refused to admit the heinous crimes they participated in. Göring committed suicide with a cyanide-laced cream after being sentenced to death by hanging in Nuremberg.

Praljak's theatricality suggests that he must have expressed his intentions to commit suicide. In his closing statement before the first-instance verdict of the Tribunal, he ironically identified himself with Göring. "So let me describe the role of Göring, with whom, according to the prosecution, I should be consistent. That Göring placed his Jews (Muslims) in his villa and took care of them." Dutch investigators will find out if Praljak was led to suicide and by whom. Did someone need a sacrifice that would overshadow the catastrophic essence of the verdict against the wartime regime of Herceg-Bosna and Croatia? Praljak's sacrifice proved to be very useful for day-to-day political purposes in both BiH and Croatia.