Former commander Slobodan Praljak drank from bottle moments after judges upheld 20-year sentence in The Hague 
 
 A former Bosnian Croat general has died after drinking a phial of poison while standing in the dock at a UN tribunal in The Hague, where his war crimes sentence of 20 years was upheld. 
 
 Seconds after the judges had delivered their decision at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday, Slobodan Praljak shouted out angrily: “Praljak is not a criminal. I reject your verdict.” 
 
 The 72-year-old then raised a small brown bottle to his lips, and drank it in full view of the cameras filming the hearing. “I just drank poison,” he said. “I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction.” 
 
 The day I came face to face with General Slobodan Praljak in The Hague Read more 
 
 As court officials surrounded the white-haired and bearded Praljak, the presiding judge, Carmel Agius, immediately ordered the proceedings to be suspended. The curtains screening the courtroom were abruptly closed to the public. 
 
 Within minutes, an ambulance arrived outside the tribunal, while a helicopter hovered overhead. Praljak was taken to hospital but officially declared dead a few hours later. 
 
 An investigation is likely to be launched into who supplied him with the poison and how he could have smuggled the bottle into court through what should have been strict security at the longest-running war crimes tribunal in The Hague. 
 
 An official statement from the ICTY said: “Mr Slobodan Praljak, one of six defence appellants in the Prlić et al case, passed away today in HMC hospital in The Hague. 
 
 
 
 “During the public pronouncement of the appeal judgment the appeals chamber confirmed his conviction and affirmed Mr Praljak’s sentence of 20 years of imprisonment. Immediately thereafter, Mr Praljak drank a liquid while in court, and quickly fell ill. 
 
 
 
 “Mr Praljak was immediately assisted by the ICTY medical staff. Simultaneously an ambulance was summoned. Mr Praljak was transported to a nearby hospital to receive further medical assistance where he passed away. 
 
 
 
 “In accordance with standard procedures, at the request of the ICTY, the Dutch authorities have initiated an independent investigation which is currently ongoing. The tribunal has extended its condolences to the next of kin.” 
 
 The Croatian prime minister, Andrej Plenković, had earlier confirmed Praljak’s death after it was initially reported on Croatian state TV and offered his condolences to the family. 
 
 Plenković said: “His act, which we regrettably saw today, mostly speaks about a deep moral injustice towards six Croats from Bosnia and the Croatian people ... We voice dissatisfaction and regret about the verdict.” 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Slobodan Praljak, second from right, sings a Croatian hymn with former soldiers before his departure to the Hague tribunal in April 2004. Photograph: Antonio Bat/EPA 
 
 Dutch police have declared the courtroom a crime scene. 
 
 The unprecedented disruption came as judges were handing down their ruling in the appeals case of six former Bosnian Croat political and military leaders accused of war crimes during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. 
 
 
 
 Praljak was charged with ordering the destruction of Mostar’s 16th-century bridge in November 1993, which judges in the first trial had said “caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population”. 
 
 
 
 A symbol of Bosnia’s devastation in the war, the Ottoman-era bridge was later rebuilt. The city experienced some of the worst of the Croat-Muslim clashes, with nearly 80% of its eastern area destroyed in the fighting. 
 
 In their ruling, the judges allowed part of Praljak’s appeal, saying the bridge had been a legitimate military target during the conflict. They also overturned some of his convictions but refused to reduce his overall sentence. 
 
 The case has been keenly watched in Zagreb, and the appeal judges said that all six men, who had been found guilty of taking part in a scheme to remove Bosnian Muslims, “remained convicted of numerous and very serious crimes”. 
 
 
 
 Praljak had already completed a significant proportion of his sentence. Before the Bosnian conflict, he had been a writer and film director. 
 
 One lawyer who has defended suspects at the ICTY said it would be easy to bring poison into the court. Toma Fila, a Serbian lawyer who has frequently defended suspects at the UN war crimes court in the Netherlands, said that security for lawyers and other court staff was “just like at an airport”. 
 
 He said: “They inspect metal objects, like belts, metal money, shoes, and take away mobile phones”. But, he said, “pills and small quantities of liquids” may not be picked up. 
 
 
 
 Earlier in the proceedings, the judges had upheld a 25-year prison term against Jadranko Prlić, the former prime minister of a breakaway Bosnian Croat statelet, Herceg-Bosna, and a 20-year term for its former defence minister Bruno Stojić. 
 
 The 1992-95 war in Bosnia, in which 100,000 people died and 2.2 million were displaced, mainly pitted Bosnian Muslims against Bosnian Serbs, but also saw brutal fighting between Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats after an initial alliance fell apart. 
 
 The proceedings on Wednesday came a week after the judges imposed a life sentence on the former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladić, whose ruthlessness in the conflict earned him the title of “butcher of Bosnia”. 
 
 Herceg-Bosna, backed by the government of the Croatian nationalist leader Franjo Tuđman, was formally dismantled in 1996 as part of the peace deal that ended the war. The “president” of Herceg-Bosna, Mate Boban, died in 1997 and Tuđman in 1999, leaving Prlić the highest-ranking Bosnian Croat official to face prosecution for the crimes. 
 
 Commenting on Praljak’s actions, Tuđman’s son, Miroslav, said it was a “consequence of his moral position not to accept the verdict that has nothing to do with justice or reality”. 
 
 Nick Kaufman, a former prosecutor at the ICTY, said: “When deprived of authority over the masses and the attention which formerly fuelled their ego and charisma, such defendants can often be extremely resourceful with the little power they retain.” 
 
 
 
 The ICTY charged Praljak and his co-defendants in 2004. The six surrendered with Croatia under pressure to comply with the court in return for joining the EU. 
 
 The ICTY closes its doors on 31 December, having indicted and dealt with 161 people. 
 
 Praljak is not the first defendant to die in ICTY custody at The Hague. The former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babić killed himself at the nearby Scheveningen detention centre in 2006. Another Croatian Serb, Slavko Dokmanović, was found hanging from the door of his cell in 1998. 
 
 Additional reporting by Max Opray. 
 
 ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Slobodan Praljak drank a small vial of liquid after his prison sentence was upheld 
 
 A Bosnian Croat war criminal has died after drinking poison during an appeal hearing in The Hague. 
 
 Slobodan Praljak, 72, died in hospital, with the UN court announcing that the courtroom was now "a crime scene". 
 
 On hearing that his 20-year jail term had been upheld, the ex-commander of Bosnian Croat forces said he was not a criminal and then drank from a bottle. 
 
 In 2013, he was sentenced for crimes in the city of Mostar during the Bosnian war from 1992-95. 
 
 Praljak was one of six former Bosnian Croat political and military leaders up before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). 
 
 They were attending the final appeals judgment to be handed down by the court. 
 
 Though allies against the Bosnian Serbs in the war, Bosnian Croats and Muslims also fought each other for a period of 11 months, with Mostar seeing some of the fiercest fighting. 
 
 'Don't take away the glass' 
 
 After hearing the verdict, General Praljak stood and raised his hand to his mouth, tipped his head back and appeared to swallow a glass of liquid. 
 
 "I have taken poison," he said. 
 
 Presiding judge Carmel Agius immediately suspended the proceedings and an ambulance was called. 
 
 "Okay," the judge said. "We suspend the... We suspend... Please, the curtains. Don't take away the glass that he used when he drank something." 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Emergency rescue workers were called into the court building to assist Slobodan Praljak 
 
 An ambulance could later be seen arriving outside the tribunal while a helicopter hovered above the scene. 
 
 Several emergency rescue workers also rushed into the building carrying equipment in backpacks. 
 
 In a statement, the ICTY said Praljak "was immediately assisted by the ICTY medical staff". 
 
 It said Praljak "was transported to a nearby hospital to receive further medical assistance where he passed". 
 
 An independent investigation is now under way. 
 
 Slobodan Praljak 
 
 Image copyright EPA 
 
 1945: Born in Capljina, modern-day Bosnia-Herzegovina 
 
 Born in Capljina, modern-day Bosnia-Herzegovina 1970-72: Graduates in Zagreb with diplomas in engineering, philosophy, sociology, and drama 
 
 Graduates in Zagreb with diplomas in engineering, philosophy, sociology, and drama 1970s-80s: Teaches philosophy and sociology, works as theatre director, produces TV films and documentaries 
 
 Teaches philosophy and sociology, works as theatre director, produces TV films and documentaries 1991: Joins Croatia's army as wars erupt in Yugoslavia, promoted to Maj Gen rank 
 
 Joins Croatia's army as wars erupt in Yugoslavia, promoted to Maj Gen rank 1993: Becomes commander of the main staff of the Bosnian Croat defence forces (HVO) 
 
 Becomes commander of the main staff of the Bosnian Croat defence forces (HVO) After wars: Goes into business 
 
 Goes into business 2004: Turns himself to The Hague court, granted provisional release 
 
 Turns himself to The Hague court, granted provisional release 2012: Ordered to return to detention unit in The Hague 
 
 Ordered to return to detention unit in The Hague 2013: Sentenced to 20 years in prison 
 
 Sentenced to 20 years in prison 29 Nov 2017: Dies by drinking poison in courtroom after his jail sentencing is upheld 
 
 Meanwhile, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he regretted the death of Slobodan Praljak. 
 
 "His act, which we all unfortunately witnessed today, speaks most of a deep moral injustice towards six indicted Croats from Bosnia and the Croatian people. 
 
 "The government expresses its condolences to all victims of all crimes committed in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. We voice dissatisfaction and regret about the verdict," Mr Plenkovic said. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption In Mostar, Bosnian Croats lit candles and prayed for Slobodan Praljak at a makeshift memorial 
 
 Natacha Gaveau Ivanovic, Praljak's lawyer, told the BBC that she did not believe the tribunal treated her client fairly. 
 
 "I have no idea what happened and how it happened but for me what is very important, more important is why he did it," she said. 
 
 The lawyer said she thought her client drank poison because he believed that he was an "innocent man". She said that he had the right to "consider that" because the tribunal "didn't limit itself to judge just personal responsibility, they took on them to judge [the] politics of people, of a state, the history". 
 
 She added: "It's very hard from the people who are from this country to accept that, and actually they cannot accept it." 
 
 Crimes against Muslims 
 
 Praljak, the former commander of the main staff of the Bosnian Croat defence forces (HVO), was jailed for crimes against humanity. 
 
 Informed that soldiers were rounding up Muslims in Prozor in the summer of 1993, he had failed to make any serious efforts to stop the action, the UN war crimes tribunal found. 
 
 Praljak had also failed to act on information that murders were being planned, as well as attacks on members of international organisations and the destruction of the city's historic Old Bridge and mosques. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mostar's Old Bridge has since been restored after being damaged during the war 
 
 Those appearing with him included Jadranko Prlic, the former prime minister of the Bosnian Croats' breakaway statelet. 
 
 Set up by mandate of the UN Security Council in 1993, the ICTY is due to close when its mandate expires at the end of the year. ||||| A UN court has suspended an appeals hearing after a Bosnian Croat wartime commander claimed to have drunk poison. 
 
 A court spokesperson said Slobodan Praljak was still alive and is being treated. 
 
 Praljak is one of six former Bosnian Croat political and military leaders who were appealing their sentences in The Hague. 
 
 The 72-year-old tilted back his head and took a swing from a flask or glass as the judge read out that his 20-year prison sentence had been upheld. 
 
 "Judges, I am not a war criminal, I reject the verdict with contempt," he said after drinking. The presiding judge called for a doctor and halted the proceedings. 
 
 Praljak was originally sentenced in 2013 for his involvement in a campaign to drive Muslims out of a would-be Bosnian Croat mini-state in Bosnia in the early 1990s. 
 
 Presiding Judge Carmel Agius had overturned some of Praljak's convictions but left his sentence unchanged. 
 
 It could not immediately be confirmed whether Praljak had taken poison or the status of his health. 
 
 Wednesday's hearing was the final case at the groundbreaking tribunal before it closes its doors next month. 
 
 The tribunal, which last week convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief General Ratko Mladic of genocide and other crimes, was set up in 1993, while fighting still raged in the former Yugoslavia. 
 
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Instead, his speech was a promise to resist AP 24/50 27 October 2018 First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a shooter opened fire, wounding three police officers and killing eleven AP 25/50 26 October 2018 Broward County Sheriff's office have released a photo of Cesar Sayoc, the suspect who was arrested in connection with the pipe bombs that have been sent to several high profile Democrats and critics of President Trump over the course of this week AP 26/50 25 October 2018 East Island in Hawaii has been swallowed by the sea following Hurricane Walaka US Fish and Wildlife Service 27/50 24 October 2018 Police officers stand outside the home of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after a "functional explosive device" was attemptedly delivered to the couple AP 28/50 23 October 2018 Turkey's President Erdogan today accused Saudi Arabia of plotting the 'savage' murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi AP 29/50 22 October 2018 Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (C) delivers a national apology to child sex abuse victims in the House of Representatives in Parliament House in Canberra on October 22, 2018. - Morrison on October 22 issued an emotive apology to children who suffered sexual abuse, saying the state had failed to protect them from "evil dark" crimes committed over decades AFP/Getty 30/50 21 October 2018 A derailed train in Yian, eastern Taiwan. At least 17 people died after the derailment CNA/AFP/Getty 31/50 20 October 2018 US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One after a "Make America Great" rally in Mesa, Arizona on October 19, 2018. - US President Donald Trump said Friday, October 19, 2018, that he found credible Saudi Arabia's assertion that dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi died as a result of a fight AFP/Getty 32/50 19 October 2018 A Palestinian youth runs past a rolling burning tire during clashes with Israeli forces following a demonstration after the weekly Friday prayers, in the centre of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron AFP/Getty 33/50 18 October 2018 Honduran migrants heading in a caravan to the United States, leave Guatemala City. US President Donald Trump threatened to send the military to close its southern border if Mexico fails to stem the "onslaught" of migrants from Central America, in a series of tweets that blamed Democrats ahead of the midterm elections AFP/Getty 34/50 17 October 2018 Smoke billows following an Israeli air strike around the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Israel launched raids against targets in the Gaza strip in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory that caused damage in a southern city, the Israeli army said AFP/Getty 35/50 16 October 2018 Ecuador has issued a list of rules to Julian Assange, the famous resident of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The list included cleaning the bathroom, not commenting on foreign political affairs online and taking better care of his cat (pictured). The document states that failure to comply with these rules “could lead to the termination of the diplomatic asylum granted by the Ecuadorian state” Reuters 36/50 15 October 2018 Israeli soldiers hurl tear gas grenades during clashes following Israeli order to shut down the al-Lubban/al-Sawiyeh school near the west bank city of Nablus, 15 October 2018. According to local sources, 20 Palestinians were wounded during clashes as dozens try to defiance the Israeli order to shut down the school EPA 37/50 14 October 2018 Serbia's Novak Djokovic kisses the trophy after winning his men's final singles match against Croatia's Borna Coric at the Shanghai Masters. Djokovic, who has now won four titles this season, will move up one ranking spot to No. 2, pushing Roger Federer back to No. 3 AFP/Getty 38/50 13 October 2018 Demonstrators raising red painted hands and a placard reading "we must change the system not the climate" referring to the need to stop climate change during a march in Bordeaux, southwestern France AFP/Getty 39/50 12 October 2018 Spanish Unionist demonstrators carry Spanish flags during a demonstration on Spain's National Day in Barcelona Reuters 40/50 11 October 2018 Russia has halted all crewed space flights following the failed launch of the Soyuz MS-10 rocket (pictured). Investigations in to the rocket's malfunction are ongoing Reuters 41/50 People look on at a damaged store after Hurricane Michael passed through Panama City, Florida. A Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, was the most powerful storm ever to hit the Florida Panhandle Getty 42/50 9 October 2018 The Darul Muttaqien Mosque was the heart of the community for many in Palu. A lot of the victims were inside their homes or at the mosque when the quake struck. Magareb prayer for many, was their last. Paddy Dowling travelled with UK based charity Muslim Aid to the disaster areas of North Sulawesi to witness the scale of Indonesia’s earthquake & tsunami. They are the only British NGO delivering aid out in Palu through local partners Paddy Dowling 43/50 8 October 2018 People take part in a candle-light vigil in memory of Bulgarian TV journalist Viktoria Marinova in Ruse Reuters 44/50 7 October 2018 Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, presidential candidate with the Social Liberal Party, celebrate in front of his house during the general elections in Rio. The far-right congressman, who waxes nostalgically about the dictatorship, won the vote but not an outright victory. The second-round-run-off will be between Bolsoanro and the leftist Workers' party Fernando Haddad AP 45/50 6 October 2018 Demonstrators hold a banner that reads "freedom of the press, not allowed to be trampled" and "shame on the governments vindictive move" past a symbolic 'political red line' during a protest after Hong Kong immigration authorities declined a visa renewal for senior Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet, outside the immigration department building in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's decision to effectively blacklist a senior Financial Times journalist required an "urgent explanation", the UK said AFP/Getty 46/50 5 October 2018 Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad announced as the winners of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. The pair were awarded the honour “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” AFP/Getty/Reuters 47/50 4 October 2018 Dutch security services expel Russian spies over plot targeting chemical weapons watchdog. This picture shows the four GRU officers who entered the Netherlands at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on April 10, travelling on official Russian passports. On April 13 they parked a car carrying specialist hacking equipment outside the headquarters of the OPCW in The Hague. At that point the Dutch counter-terrorism officers intervened to disrupt the operation and the four GRU officers were ordered to leave the country PA 48/50 3 October 2018 Quake survivors make their way past a washed out passenger ferry in Wani, Indonesia's Central Sulawesi, after an earthquake and tsunami hit the area on September 28. Nearly 1,400 people are now known to have died as UN officials warned the "needs remain vast" for both desperate survivors and rescue teams still searching for victims AFP/Getty 49/50 2 October 2018 US first lady Melania Trump holds a baby during a visit to a hospital in Accra, Ghana. The first lady is visiting Africa on her first big solo international trip, aiming to make child well-being the focus of a five-day, four-country tour Reuters 50/50 1 October 2018 Indian school children dressed like Mahatma Gandhi perform yoga during a event at a school in Chennai ahead of his birth anniversary. Indians all over the country celebrate Gandhi's birthday on October 2 AFP/Getty 
 
 It indicted 161 suspects and convicted 90 of them. 
 
 The appeals judges upheld a key finding that late Croat president Franjo Tudjman was a member of a plan to create a Croat mini-state in Bosnia. 
 
 Two other suspects had also had their sentences upheld before the hearing was halted. ||||| Slobodan Praljak enters the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, to hear the verdict in the appeals case. The hearing was suspended after Praljak claimed to... (Associated Press) 
 
 THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Latest on rulings at the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (all times local): 
 
 12:25 p.m. 
 
 Dutch emergency services, police, a fire truck and an ambulance have parked outside the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and what appeared to be firefighters, some of them wearing oxygen tanks, have entered the court after one of the defendants claimed to have drunk poison. 
 
 The court building was not evacuated. A ramp that would allow a stretcher to be wheeled out was laid down the court steps. 
 
 Slobodan Praljak claimed to have taken the poison just after his 20-year sentence was upheld by appeals judges. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:55 a.m. 
 
 Three out of six suspects at the last case at the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia have had their sentences confirmed, although some of their convictions were overturned by appeal judges. 
 
 The hearing was suspended, however, after one of the three, Slobodan Praljak, claimed to have drunk poison and shouted that he was not a war criminal, after his 20-year sentence was upheld. 
 
 The six Bosnian Croat political and military leaders had appealed against their convictions for involvement in crimes as Croat forces attempted to carve out a Croat ministate in Bosnia by driving Muslims from towns and villages during the 1992-95 war. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:35 a.m. 
 
 United Nations judges have suspended an appeals hearing after one of the suspects drank from a small bottle in court and claimed to have taken poison. 
 
 Slobodan Praljak, a former commander of Bosnian Croat forces in Bosnia's 1992-95 war, drank from a small bottle or glass and yelled "I am not a war criminal" moments after judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had confirmed his 20-year sentence on appeal Wednesday. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:30 a.m. 
 
 A United Nations war crimes tribunal is handing down its last judgment in an appeal by six Bosnian Croat political and military leaders who were convicted in 2013 of persecuting, expelling and murdering Muslims during Bosnia's war. 
 
 Wednesday's hearing is the final case to be completed at the groundbreaking International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia before it closes its doors next month. The tribunal, which last week convicted former Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic of genocide and other crimes, was set up in 1993, while fighting still raged in the former Yugoslavia. It indicted 161 suspects and convicted 90 of them. 
 
 The original conviction said that late-Croat President Franjo Tudjman was a key member of a plan to create a Croat mini-state in Bosnia. ||||| "Dear God, please spare me Serb heroism and Croatian culture," ("Sacuvaj me boze srpskog junastva i hrvatske kulture") was a famous quip of Miroslav Krleza (1893-1981), the greatest Yugoslav and Croatian writer of the 20th century. 
 
 Krleza did not live long enough to witness the destruction of Yugoslavia and the wars of the 1990s, but he unerringly identified -- and mocked in his typically acerbic style -- the nationalist conceits that played no small part in the breakup of the country. A major element in Serb national identity has long been their supposed martial spirit, while the Croats have sought to distinguish themselves from their Balkan neighbors by claiming to possess a superior, more authentically Western culture. Both of these national myths were given the lie in the war. 
 
 The Serbs showed little of their military prowess in the 1990s wars, contriving to lose ground in all the conflicts -- in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo -- despite enjoying overwhelming superiority in weapons and personnel. On the other hand, some of the most notorious acts of destruction of cultural heritage -- aimed at removing all traces of the Muslim population from areas of Bosnia that the Croats considered to be "theirs" -- were masterminded or carried out by men who before the war had built a reputation as "promoters of culture." The case of Slobodan Praljak is typical, and one of the crimes for which he has been convicted in the first instance at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is the destruction of the Old Bridge in Mostar. 
 
 'Prlic Five' 
 
 Slobodan Praljak (72) is one of "the Prlic Five," a group of Croat political and military leaders tried along with Jadranko Prlic, the former president of the wartime statelet of "Herceg-Bosna." The six men were convicted in 2013 and given prison sentences of 16 to 25 years. They are awaiting judgments on appeal on November 29. 
 
 While the Bosnian Serb Army was busy carving out the borders of what became Republika Srpska, in the southwest, Bosnian Croat forces -- with significant support from Croatia proper -- turned on the Bosnian Army and set out to establish their own ethnically homogenous space, using some of the same methods of ethnic cleansing employed by the Serbs. 
 
 Before the war, Praljak had been a writer and film director. He had also been the director of various theaters, including in Mostar. With the outbreak of the war, the man of culture became a general and an adviser to Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. He was eventually accused of command responsibility for the destruction of the Old Bridge in Mostar, one of the most striking Ottoman monuments in the Balkans, and a jewel of Bosnia's Islamic heritage. 
 
 The 16th-century bridge over the Neretva River was commissioned by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent and built by the Ottoman architect Mimar Hayruddin. Its construction is wrapped in myth and legend, but it became the symbol of the city of Mostar, which got its name from it. According to the 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Celebi, the name "Mostar" means "bridge-keeper." 
 
 Celebi wrote that the bridge was "like a rainbow arch soaring up to the skies, extending from one cliff to the other.... I, a poor and miserable slave of Allah, have passed through 16 countries but I have never seen such a high bridge. It is thrown from rock to rock as high as the sky." 
 
 The graceful arch stood for more than four centuries, surviving not only the fall of the Ottoman Empire, but two world wars -- including the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia. But like so much of Bosnia's Ottoman heritage, it was not spared by the merciless onslaught of Serb and -- in this case -- Croat nationalists intent on erasing the country's Islamic past. 
 
 Overwhelmed By Sorrow 
 
 During the trial in The Hague, Praljak denied all charges, and his defense lawyers spun conspiracy theories backed by "experts" who asserted that the Old Bridge in Mostar was "most likely destroyed by explosives rigged on the bridge [by the Bosnian Army], not when it was hit by a shell fired from HVO [Bosnian Croat forces] tank." 
 
 However it was not merely a stray shell, but over 60 projectiles that were fired at the bridge between November 8 and 9, 1993, from HVO positions before the Old Bridge collapsed. In a recent tweet, a resident of Mostar described the sorrow that overwhelmed him the moment the bridge collapsed. 
 
 There was a belief among Bosnians that only someone without education or culture -- a barbarian -- could destroy an ancient monument that preserves the footprints of past centuries. But that was far from the case. The Croatian group of six held responsible for the act was extremely well-educated, and it's likely that Praljak has more academic diplomas than any other member of the Prlic Five. He initially studied engineering and graduated with distinction from Zagreb University, but this was followed by degrees in Philosophy and Sociology. A year after that, he graduated from the Film Academy. 
 
 The day the Old Bridge was destroyed, the Sarajevo-based newspaper "Oslobodjenje" published an editorial with the headline: "They Have Killed The Oldest Resident Of Mostar." 
 
 The Old Bridge was rebuilt after the war, in 2004, thanks to foreign funds as well as expertise and backing by UNESCO. 
 
 'Extended Cease-Fire' 
 
 One of the traditions that became inextricably associated with the Old Bridge was the annual diving competition, organized every summer by the "Mostari" club. This year, they marked the anniversary of the destruction of the bridge on November 9 in a special manner. There was a gathering of students from Mostar schools, as well as residents and local politicians, but they were predominantly from one side of the Neretva, with Croat officials conspicuous by their absence. 
 
 Air-raid sirens were sounded, flowers were cast into the river below, and a single diver jumped off the bridge followed by silence, without the usual applause. 
 
 Mostar resident Zeljko Laketic was in the Bosnian military in 1993, and stood only a few dozen meters away from the Old Bridge when it was destroyed. 
 
 "I saw that everyone was in tears, as if a member of their family had been killed. I saw hardened men, veterans of two years of war who had seen everything, crying like little children," Laketic told RFE/RL. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Croat politicians only show up on the anniversary of the reopening of the bridge, preferring to ignore the circumstances of its destruction. 
 
 Apart from its beauty, the Old Bridge in Mostar had over the centuries become a symbol of this multiethnic Bosnian city, uniting the two banks of the Neretva River. Its destruction was thus not only about erasing the Islamic past, but symbolically breaking the bonds between the city's various peoples. The bridge may have been rebuilt, but the fabric of Bosnia's -- and Mostar's -- multiethnic society has not been stitched back together. 
 
 As a local RFE/RL correspondent recently lamented to me: "Here [in Mostar] we do not have peace, only an extended cease-fire." 
 
 The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL 
 

– Croatian state TV has reported that war criminal Slobodan Praljak, who stunned a UN war crimes tribunal Wednesday by drinking what he claimed was poison during proceedings, has died, per the AP. The BBC and Guardian had earlier reported that the 72-year-old Bosnian Croat—an ex-military commander convicted four years ago of persecuting and killing Muslims during the Bosnian war in the mid-'90s—disrupted his appeals hearing after he heard his 20-year sentence in prison would be upheld. "I am not a war criminal," he reportedly yelled upon hearing the news, just after he got up from his seat and appeared to drink something from a tiny glass or bottle. His attorney then cried out: "My client says he has taken poison." The BBC reports a "state of confusion" in the courtroom followed, as the judge immediately halted proceedings and medical help was called for; the AP notes cops, emergency services personnel, and what looked to be firefighters with oxygen tanks were all on the scene. The New York Times cites an anonymous tribunal official who said Praljak's body was taken off court premises after he was pronounced dead; Croatian state TV said he died at a hospital in the Hague, per un-IDed sources said to be close to Praljak. The UN tribunal is the same one that last week sentenced Ratko Mladic to life in prison for his own atrocities during the war. Praljak, one of six former Bosnian politicians or military bigwigs set to hear their appeal verdicts Wednesday, was accused of crimes that included destroying a centuries-old Ottoman bridge in Mostar, per the Independent. (Mladic had vowed to kill himself; here's why he didn't.)