War criminal Mladen Naletilić Tuta dies

(Patria) - War criminal Mladen Naletilić Tuta, former commander of the HVO Punishment Battalion, died of a heart attack.

Mladen Naletilić was sentenced to 20 years in prison in The Hague for war crimes against Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

The Appeals Chamber confirmed on 3 May 2006 the sentences imposed on Naletilić and Vinko Martinović, known as Štela.

The Trial Chamber sentenced Mladen Naletilić to 20 years in prison and Vinko Martinović to 18 years in prison for their participation in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslim civilians in the area of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from April 1993 to January 1994. During the relevant period, Naletilić was the commander of the Punishment Battalion, a military unit within the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Martinović was the commander of a lower unit within the Punishment Battalion. The accused were, among other things, found guilty of persecution, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful transfer of civilians, and unlawful labour. Vinko Martinović was also found guilty of murder, and Mladen Naletilić was found guilty of torture.

Subsequently, before Croatian courts, Naletilić was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for incitement to murder Damir Brekalo in 1995 in Široki Brijeg, while he was acquitted of incitement to murder Robert Nosić in 1993 in Ljubuški.

As confirmed to Hina by his former comrade-in-arms, Naletilić died in the ward of the University Clinical Hospital in Mostar, where he had been hospitalised for several days due to the effects of a severe heart attack.

Mladen Naletilić Tuta was born on 1 December 1946 in Široki Brijeg. He was a Croatian political emigrant, founder of the Punishment Battalion, with which he fought in Croatia and then in Bosnia and Herzegovina.