Jadranko Prlić

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Jadranko Prlić
Prime Minister of Herzeg-Bosnia
In office
14 August 1992 – 14 August 1996
President Mate Boban
Vice President of the Executive Council of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
1989–1991
Defence Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
June 1994 – January 1996
Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
January 1996 – February 2001
Personal details
Born (1959-06-10)10 June 1959
Đakovo, PR Croatia, Yugoslavia
Political party Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Alma mater Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo
Profession Economist, politician
Ethnicity Croat
Military service
Allegiance Herzeg-Bosnia
Croatia
Service/branch Croatian Defence Council
Years of service 1992-1995
Battles/wars Bosnian War
Croat–Bosniak War

Jadranko Prlić (pronounced [jâdraːŋko př̩ːlit͡ɕ]; born 10 June 1959) is a Bosnian Croat politician and the former head of the self-proclaimed wartime state of Herzeg-Bosnia convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of mass war crimes and ethnic cleansing primarily against the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) but also Serb population.[1] He was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on 29 May 2013.[2][3]

The tribunal found him and five other high-ranking officials guilty for participation in a joint criminal enterprise that included the President of Croatia Franjo Tuđman, defence minister Gojko Šušak, general Janko Bobetko and Mate Boban. Tuđman, Šušak, Bobetko and Mate Boban were all long deceased by that time, having died from natural causes; the first two from cancer.[4]

Early life

Around 1975 (date to verify, only 15 years old), he joined the League of Communists. In 1987, he received his doctorate from the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo. He passed through all levels of professorship before becoming a full professor. In 1988, he became a mayor of Mostar and in 1989 he became the Vice-President of the state Executive Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During and immediately after the 1990 elections he held the position of Acting President of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Government. In early March 1992, he travelled to the United States to study the American approach to market economics. Upon his return to Mostar the city was under siege and Prlić joined the Croatian Defence Council and took active participation in war.[5]

Indictment

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indictment states that as a leading politician of the Croatian Defence Council or HVO in the early 1990s Prlić had almost total power and control of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia government. Therefore as the leader of the HVO government he had the power to remove, military civilian commanders who had taken part of ordered crimes against humanity. He had the power to close HVO concentrations camps.[6]

He was charged with:[7]

  • 9 counts of grave breaches of the Geneva conventions (wilful killing; inhuman treatment (sexual assault); unlawful deportation of a civilian; unlawful transfer of a civilian; unlawful confinement of a civilian; inhuman treatment (conditions of confinement); inhuman treatment; extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly)
  • 9 counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (cruel treatment (conditions of confinement); cruel treatment; unlawful labour; wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or destruction not justified by military necessity; destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion or education; plunder of public or private property; unlawful attack on civilians; unlawful infliction of terror on civilians; cruel treatment)
  • 8 counts of crimes against humanity (persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; murder; rape; deportation; inhumane acts (forcible transfer); imprisonment; inhumane acts (conditions of confinement); inhumane acts)

On 29 May 2013, Prlić was sentenced to 25 years in prison.[8]

The court ruled that Croatia was responsible for helping purge Herceg-Bosna of non-Croats, i.e. Bosniaks and Serbs, adding that then-President Franjo Tuđman believed ethnic cleansing was necessary to create an ethnically pure state which could then become a part of the Republic of Croatia. Presiding Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti said that the national armed forces had carried out murders, rapes and deportations. "The crimes were not the random acts of a few unruly soldiers. They were the result of a plan...to permanently remove the Muslim population of Herceg-Bosna."[9]

The tribunal found five other war time leaders guilty as well in a joint trial—defence minister of Herceg-Bosna Bruno Stojić (20 years in jail), militia heads Slobodan Praljak (20 years) and Milivoj Petković (20 years), military police commander Valentin Ćorić (20 years) and head of prisoner exchanges and detention facilities Berislav Pušić (16 years).[10]

References

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External links

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