Bosnian Croat war criminal Slobodan Praljak, who swallowed poison before UN judges in The Hague last week, had a private funeral in Zagreb, a Croatian newspaper reported Saturday. Moments after the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia upheld his 20-year jail sentence on November 29, Praljak took his own life in dramatic scenes that were broadcast live from the courtroom. He died in a hospital several hours later and the preliminary results showed he swallowed potassium cyanide and died from heart failure. The funeral ceremony for Praljak was held Thursday at Zagreb’s main Mirogoj crematorium in the presence of close family and a few close friends, “those he listed in the farewell letter”, influential Vecernji List daily reported Saturday, quoting anonymous sources. The information could not be independently confirmed and the funeral was not announced like others at the cemetery’s website. In a sealed letter handed over to his family a few years ago, to be opened when he dies, Praljak said he wanted his funeral be a private one, his lawyer Nika Pinter told AFP last week. Published in Daily Times, December 10th 2017.