Hague Request: Croatia Seeks to Exonerate Tuđman, Bobetko, and Šušak in Prlić Case

The Republic of Croatia has requested to join the appellate phase of the proceedings before the Hague Tribunal in the "Prlić et al." case as an "amicus curiae," in which top Croatian officials - former president Franjo Tuđman, former minister of defence Gojko Šušak, and former chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Army General Janko Bobetko - were found by a non-final verdict to be participants in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at ethnic cleansing of parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was announced yesterday from the Hague Tribunal.

In its submission of March 18 this year, Croatia states that the Trial Chamber in 2013, in its judgment in the "Prlić et al." case, found that three deceased top Croatian officials - president Franjo Tuđman, minister Gojko Šušak, and general Janko Bobetko were members of a joint criminal enterprise and devised and implemented a common criminal objective of changing the ethnic composition of the territory that was to become part of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna by ordering and coordinating events on the ground to commit crimes that were the result of a plan for the permanent removal of the Bosniak population from the territory of Herceg-Bosna.

Croatia requests the Appeals Chamber to grant it leave to file a submission as an amicus curiae and to appear as an amicus curiae in the proceedings. Croatia states that its participation in the proceedings regarding factual and legal issues would be desirable as it would assist the Chamber in reaching a correct decision.

"President Tuđman, Minister Šušak, and General Bobetko have the right to the presumption of innocence before the court after their death," Croatia states in the submission seeking permission to file submissions on their behalf, Croatian media report.

First-instance verdict - international conflict 

In May 2013, the Hague Tribunal, in a non-final verdict, sentenced six Bosnian Croat officials to prison terms ranging from 10 to 25 years for crimes against Bosniaks during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, conceived within a joint criminal enterprise.

Former Prime Minister of Herceg-Bosna Jadranko Prlić (pictured) was then sentenced to 25 years in prison in a non-final verdict, former Minister of Defence Bruno Stojić and former Chiefs of the General Staff of the Croatian Defence Council Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj Petković to 20 years in prison each, former military police commander Valentin Ćorić to 16 years, and head of the POW exchange office Berislav Pušić to 10 years in prison.

The Trial Chamber, by a majority of votes, with the dissenting opinion of presiding judge Jean Claude Antonetti, concluded at the time that the conflict between the Croatian Defence Council and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993-94 was an international conflict and that most of the crimes against the Bosniak population of Herceg-Bosna for which the accused were charged were committed as part of a joint criminal enterprise in which part of the political and military leadership of the Republic of Croatia, including President Franjo Tuđman, also participated.

The objective of this joint criminal enterprise, according to the conclusions of the verdict, was to establish a Croatian entity within the borders of Banovina Croatia from 1939 and its annexation to Croatia in order to re-establish the unification of the Croatian people in the event of the disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or for it to become an independent state within Bosnia and Herzegovina closely linked to Croatia.