Slobodan Pralyak: Protecting Yourself Misunderstanding History

“Who am I and what am I?”

Former Bosnian Croat General Slobodan Praljak presents himself ironically in his 800-page ʹdocracak, entitled How to Become a Joint Criminal, whom his company sent to BIRN in March this year after he complained against the sentence.

In the introduction, Praljak describes himself as the average “nationalist from Croatia, a Croatian nationalist --” and a potential candidate to be sentenced as part of a joint criminal enterprise.

And indeed he was convicted, shortly before committing suicide last Wednesday in the courtroom at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the ICTY.

Praljak was sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity, committed against Bosnian civilians and prisoners of war during the 1990s conflict.

The ICTY ruled that these crimes include forced expulsions of Bosniaks from the Croatian community (later Republika Srpska) of Bosnia, an unknown Croatian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina in wartime, as well as arrests, murder, torture, cause terror over civilians, and use of detained prisoners as prisoners for labour and as human shields.

The subheading of Praljak's book, which was published on its website and sent to BIRN in the Croatian and English version, ironically adds: “With instructions on how to think (men rea) and how to act (act reus) in order to be a member of a joint criminal enterprise at the International Criminal Court in The Hague”.

The ICTY on Wednesday declared him responsible for committing his crimes as part of a joint criminal enterprise headed by Croatia's president, 1990, Franjo Tudjman.

Upon hearing that he was convicted, Pralyak drank poison and died later that day.

The book itself is an extension of consciousness, presenting Pralyak's own perception of historical truth, trying to whitewash the crimes that have been committed and turning attention away from the facts established by the UN tribunal, away from himself and the actions he was declared responsible for.

Pralyak begins his book several decades before the conflicts of the 1990s, offering his interpretation of World War II history, claiming that some members of the anti-fascist bloc -- BRUSS and communist Yugoslavia -- were not actually anti-fascist. According to its definition, Communism is only part of fascism.

In his conviction of Yugoslavia and its leader, Josip Broz Tito, Praljak offers scientifically untested figures for the amount of deaths the communist regime caused by killing fascist collaborators and civilians.

It also presents a list of Croats who have been confirmed or allegedly victimized by the Yugoslav State Security Service, better known by the infamous acronym, UDBA.

But what's not mentioned is that his father, Mirko Praljak, was a prominent member of the Department for the Protection of the People, O ZNA, who fought the fascist rebel forces in areas controlled in Partizan, and an official of UDBA in the Bosnian town of Mostar.

Pralyak continues to write about the 1990s, giving him all the cases that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia. He focuses on the role of Yugoslavia, or more precisely Serbia and its leader, Slobodan Milosevic, when he talks about who is responsible.

He also gives a blow to the international community after criticising UN Security Council Resolution 713 of 1991, which he voiced “deep concern for fighting in Yugoslavia and demanded a full embargo on weapons.

Praljak argues it was aimed at stopping the taking of arms from Croatia in the midst of the war against rebel Croat Serbs who were being helped by the Yugoslav People's Army.

In a passage aimed at sarcastically explaining national characteristics that lie behind the UN resolution policy, he writes in the English translation of the book:

“Well, Russians and Serbs show their love publicly, French as Serbs (the French president) Francis Mitterrand publicly expresses this, well, the English don't like anyone, let alone Croats, Yugoslavia is popular with all, but Americans, Americans, Americans... John Ford and John Wayne must return to their graves from all this justice battle. ”

Presenting its interpretation of war, Praljak offers many maps, showing different troops and forces, attacks and counterattacks.

It includes a reduced map of the United States that has 26 percent of its territory occupied by invaders from Mexico, Cuba, and the Atlantic, corresponding to the same amount of Croatian territory that had been occupied by Serbs in 1991.

Praljak insists Croatia played a positive role in Yugoslav wars, saying it was one of the first to recognise Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It also offers graphics and data boards showing Croatia's humanitarian assistance to Bosnia and the number of refugees or wounded Croatia accepted from Bosnia.

However, his book does not mention the fact that the Croatian military force of Bosnia, the Croatian Defence Council HVO, whose main headquarters has ordered, the blocking of humanitarian aid to Bosniaks, especially in the Eastern Mostar.

Praljak also fails to specify how Croatia financed HVO during its conflict with Bosnia and Herzegovina's Bosniak Army, at a time when widespread crimes were committed. He further fails to specify that he was on Croatia's salary list at the same time as I was founded. TY.

In an effort to defend himself and Croatia, he does not describe the role of top Croatian officials in actions that led to crime and its participation in meetings at which these actions were discussed, as the ICTY has decided.

“Chamber points out that during these meetings, Slobodan Praljak was not only informed of Croatia's policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also supported it and contributed to the discussions”, the ICTY First Case Court ruling said in the 2013 trial.

In the book Praljak writes extensively about the role of Bosnian wartime presidency representative Alija Izetbegovic. It refers to Izetbegovici as a “fraud”, presenting him as one of the most responsible leaders in the conflict, accusing him of betraying agreements and continuing plotting, even with Serbs.

An important part of his book deals with Bosnian crimes against Croats, some of which have already been documented, even though others have not been documented.

It focuses heavily on the Mujahedins, Islamic foreign fighters who came to fight on the Bosniak side, some of whom were responsible for a variety of atrocities, according to an indictment of the Bosnian state prosecution.

Praljak concludes his book with a presentation on the “human behaviour in civil unrest and war”, citing the examples of the 2005 hurricane é katerinaão, New York's power outage in 1977, the murder of Dutch author Theo van Gogh in 2004, the 2005 riots in Paris, and the 1968 massacre of ão Laié, when the American army killed 300 Vietnamese civilians.

These examples, he explains, show that police and armed forces are unprepared and unwilling to respond properly to natural unrest and disasters, even in peaceful countries.

The massacre -- My Lay -- shows how the “and the professional army can get out of control and commit a massacre without ordering superiors”, concludes Praljak, as if he were on trial by giving his final statement to judges.