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from the does-this-smell-like-almonds? dept.
After hearing his guilty sentence upheld, convicted war criminal Slobodan Praljak took out a small bottle of poison and drank it. The act of defiance was streamed live to viewers around the world. Praljak died a few hours later:
It happened in the span of a few confused minutes.
Moments after hearing that his 20-year sentence for war crimes had been upheld, Slobodan Praljak defied the admonitions of his judges, declared his innocence a final time — and with eyes wide, as if shocked himself at what he was doing, put a tiny glass to his lips and gulped deeply. "I just drank poison," he exclaimed after lowering the glass. And the presiding judge asked for the curtains to be closed.
The end came quickly. Praljak died within hours Wednesday. But as Dutch authorities open their investigation into the incident at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, one difficult question promises to persist much longer: How exactly did the former Bosnian Croat general manage to commit suicide in a high-security courtroom in The Hague, Netherlands, and in front of viewers streaming the video live around the world?
There is reason — besides his swift death — to believe Praljak's declaration that he had indeed taken poison.
"There was a preliminary test of the substance in the container and all I can say for now is that there was a chemical substance in that container that can cause death," Dutch prosecutor Marilyn Fikenscher told The Associated Press. That said, the official cause of death will have to wait until an autopsy is completed.
Slobodan Praljak. The poison is thought to have been cyanide.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 03 2017, @11:53AM (5 children)
Doesn't change the point. That Court has also been accused of being nothing more than a kangaroo court, the purpose being not to find the truth or dispense justice, but to just fulfill the political desires of the courts paymasters and influencers.
When I hear the name "International Court of Justice", I can't help but think the name was conceived in Irony. A bit like how North Korea calls itself the "Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea". The ICJ has about as much relevance to "Justice" as North Korea has with "Democracy".
The less an entity is what it professes it is, the more it shoves it in your face.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday December 03 2017, @06:28PM (2 children)
I am ignorant of the ICJ. Do you have any examples of questionable conduct or decisions by the group?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 03 2017, @09:24PM
To be clear, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [wikipedia.org] (ICTY) is a specific entity that was created for the purpose of dealing with Yugoslavia war crimes. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) deals with disputes between states. The International Criminal Court [wikipedia.org] (ICC) deals with war criminals in general, and the United States is not party to the Rome Statute that created that court:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @02:38PM
It's best to educate yourself IMHO, as the agendas/biases of others may or may not reflect objective reality.
Here are a few *starting* points:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court [wikipedia.org] Is different from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_Statute_of_the_International_Criminal_Court [wikipedia.org]
https://www.icc-cpi.int/ [icc-cpi.int]
https://www.hrw.org/topic/international-justice/international-criminal-court [hrw.org]
https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-respond-when-international-criminal-court-goes-after-america [lawfareblog.com]
http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/explore/international-criminal-court [coalitionfortheicc.org]
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/apr/05/international-criminal-court-fit-purpose [theguardian.com]
HTHAL.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday December 03 2017, @06:29PM
Yes it does. Because it has nothing to do with a US court, flaws of the US system are completely irrelevant.
So what? Accusations are dirt cheap.
You base that on what? "Accusations"?
Yes, justice is imperfect both in concept and implementation, but that doesn't mean that criminals should get a free ride as a result. There are worse things out there and this guy was convicted of some of them.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Monday December 04 2017, @05:32AM
> That Court has also been accused of being nothing more than a kangaroo court
Well clearly it can't be, with it being located in Hague rather than down under properly! I mean, sure, they claim they're the "nether lands", but they're nowhere near. Buncha wannabies (note: not wallabies).