THE HAGUE, May 29 (RAPSI) – Six former Bosnian Croat leaders were convicted Wednesday by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of having committed various crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions between 1992 and 1994, during the Bosnian War.

The six convicted were among the highest-ranking officials of the wartime Croat entity of Herceg-Bosna. According to the initial 2004 indictment, the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna (HB Community) established itself in November 1991 as a political and territorial entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.  In August 1993, the Community declared itself the Croatian Republic of Heceg-Bosna (HB Republic). Herceg-Bosna’s armed forces were known as the Croatian Defense Council (HVO).

The highest ranking among those convicted was Jadranko Prlic, referred to in the ICTY case materials as Herceg-Bosna’s highest political officer. He served as president of the HVO and leader of the Herceg-Bosna government. Prlic’s co-defendants included Bruno Stojic, who served as HVO Defense Department leader; Milivoj Petkovic, who served first as Chief of HVO Main Staff and eventually as deputy commander of HVO forces; Valentin Coric, who served first as Chief of the Military Police Administration, and eventually as Minister of the Interior; Slobodan Praljak, who served first as Assistant Defense Minister of Croatia, and eventually as Commander of the HVO Main Staff; and Berislav Pusic, who formerly headed up the HVO’s prisoner exchange and detention facility commissions.

Prlic, Stojic, Petkovic, and Coric were convicted of 22 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prlic was handed a 25-year sentence; Stojic, 20; Petkovic, 20; and Coric, 16. Praljak was acquitted of two counts, and convicted of 20. He was handed a 20-year sentence. Pusic was acquitted of four counts, and sentenced to 10 years in prison over the remaining four counts. 

The ICTY, which was established by the UN Security Council, has jurisdiction over serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during the course of the wars that engulfed the Balkans between 1991 and 2001. In accordance with its mandate, the tribunal has indicted 161 individuals and has concluded proceedings against 136 of them.