The Hague mechanism rejected the request for early release, which was submitted by the former political leader of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna (HRHB) Jadranko Prlic, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for crimes against Bosniaks in 1993 and 1994 because he has not yet served two-thirds of his sentence.
Judge Carmel Agius, the President of the Hague Mechanism, informed the authorities of Great Britain, where Prlic is serving a prison sentence, that he will acquire the right to be considered for an early release only after serving two-thirds of his sentence, in April 2024.
In his decision, Judge Agius stated that the application for early release did not reveal any convincing or exceptional circumstances that would justify granting his early release.
The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) wrote last year that Great Britain informed the Mechanism on the conditions for the early release of Prlic, ie that according to British laws, he fulfilled the condition for early release after serving half of his prison sentence.
In November 2017, the Hague Tribunal convicted Prlic, along with five other high-ranking HRHB officials, and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
Former Minister of Defense of HRHB, Bruno Stojic, Chief of Staff of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), Slobodan Praljak and HVO Deputy Commander, Milivoj Petkovic, have been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Furthermore, former HVO Military Police Commander, Valentin Coric, was sentenced to 16 years in prison, while Berislav Pusic, president of the HRHB prisoner exchange commission, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Nezavisne writes.
E.Dz.
