Editing Slobodan Praljak (section)

===During the [[Yugoslav Wars]]===
Praljak drew public attention in September 1991 when he voluntarily joined the newly formed Croatian Armed Forces after the outbreak of the [[Croatian War of Independence]]. He formed a unit composed of the Zagreb artists and intellectuals with whom he held positions in Sunja. After the Sarajevo Agreement, by 3 April 1992, he was made major general, received a number of responsibilities in the Ministry of Defence, and became one of the 14 members of the Croatian National Defence Council and a member of the Croatian State Commission for Relations with United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). He was the High Representative of the Ministry of Defence, and since 13 May 1993, representative of the Ministry of Defence in the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Praljak petitioned Alija Izetbegović to unblock Sarajevo but his propositions were rejected.

From 24 July to 8 November 1993, Praljak was the Chief of Staff of the Croatian Defence Council. In spite of the Croat-Muslim conflict in the Croat–Bosniak War, he sent a truck full of weapons to besieged Sarajevo to help Bosniaks during the concurrently occurring [[Bosnian War]]. He also allowed the UNHCR's humanitarian convoy through to Mostar, which was stopped in Čitluk.

Praljak was accused of failing to prevent the armed forces from committing many crimes of which he was informed and that he could foresee, including removing and placing in detention the Muslim population of Prozor from July through August 1993, murders in Mostar municipality, the destruction of buildings in East Mostar (including the mosques and the Stari Most), attacking and wounding of members of international organisations, the destruction and [[looting]] of property in Gornji Vakuf in January 1993, Raštani in August 1993, and Stupni Do in October 1993. During 1993, General Praljak was in charge of the Dretelj camp where Bosniak men were brutalized, starved, and some killed.<ref name = crimes>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/30/dont-let-suicide-stunt-obscure-grave-crimes Don’t Let Suicide Stunt Obscure Grave Crimes], Human Rights Watch</ref>

Praljak was accused of ordering the destruction of Mostar's Stari Most in November 1993, an act which ICTY ruled had "caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population". However, ICTY agreed that the bridge was a legitimate military target.<ref name = crimes></ref>

During the trial, Praljak denied the accusation because in the same month when the destruction occurred, he came into conflict with the commander of the HVO's so-called Punishment Battalion Mladen Naletilić Tuta which resulted in his resignation from the positions of HVO's Chief of Staff, one day before the destruction of the bridge. He said that the bridge was demolished by activation of the explosive charge set on the left bank of the Neretva, where the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina was located. In addition to the responsibility and whether it was a legitimate military target, ICTY also examined whether the earlier siege by JNA and Bosnian Serb forces contributed to the bridge's collapse. Praljak retired from military service at his own request on 1 December 1995.