But it was unclear to what extent those findings would be open to scrutiny. “The outcome of the review will be made public, subject to due process and confidentiality considerations,” the tribunal said.
To smuggle the vial into the courtroom, Mr. Praljak had to circumvent what are supposed to be tight security arrangements. Defendants are transferred to the courtroom from a detention center in a high-security Dutch jail. They are escorted by guards and enter the building through an underground parking lot. They are supposed to have no contact with members of the public, and visitors to the jail must pass through a security check.
On Thursday, a Dutch prosecutor, Marilyn Fikenscher, told The Associated Press that a preliminary test of the vial from which Mr. Praljak drank had revealed a “chemical substance” that “can cause death.” But she declined to elaborate on its precise nature.
An autopsy was started Friday morning, the prosecutor said, with two Croatian experts observing it at the request of the international tribunal.
Mr. Praljak, a former theater director, was one of six former fighters who faced charges relating to a campaign to drive Muslims from a Croat state formed in 1993 during the Bosnian war. Mr. Praljak held the rank of general.
On Wednesday, the court upheld sentences against all six former fighters. They were initially found guilty in 2013 but had appealed the judgment. Mr. Praljak played a leading role in the long assault on the ethnically mixed city of Mostar, which included the destruction of the town’s 16th-century stone bridge.
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