A lawyer for an ex-Croatian general who dramatically took his own life at a UN war crimes court, says she doesn't know how he brought in fatal liquid and didn't see him take it.
Slobodan Praljak drank a liquid containing a deadly chemical shortly after his 20-year war crimes sentence was confirmed by judges at a UN tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday (yesterday NZT).
Preliminary tests of the container of the liquid have shown it contained a chemical which could cause death, and an autopsy and toxicology tests will be carried out to determine the exact substance.
Nika Pinter told Croatia's state TV on Thursday that she only spoke to Praljak on the phone before seeing him inside the courtroom where he took what he said was poison moments after judges upheld his 20-year-sentence.
Pinter said that security at the court is "really strict and I can't see how it could have happened."
Pinter said that defendants are brought into court through a special entrance and held separate from one other. She said that security is also strict in the detention unit.
She also was quoted by the Hina news agency as saying "it never occurred to me that he could do something like that."
Pinter described Praljak as "an honourable man who could not live with the war crimes conviction and leave that courtroom handcuffed."
Croatia's state TV has reported that Pinter has been questioned by police in The Netherlands who have launched an investigation into how Praljak got hold of the fatal liquid.
Croatia's president said the nation has been "deeply struck in the heart" by the death of Praljak.
Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic said in an address Thursday that Praljak "would rather take his own life than live as a convict for the acts he firmly believed he hadn't committed."
Grabar Kitarovic denounced the court ruling which linked Croatia's wartime leadership with a plan to create a Croat mini-state in Bosnia, and said both Croatia and Bosnia were victims of an "aggression" from Serbia.
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