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THE HAGUE, Nov. 29-- With war crimes convict Slobodan Praljak poisoning himself, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague closed with an expected ending on Wednesday. Accused of war crimes, Praljak passed away in the HMC Hospital in The Hague three hours after he poisoned himself in the courtroom. During the public pronouncement of his appeal judgment, the appeals chamber upheld the conviction and 20-year prison sentence to the former commander of the ethnic Croat troops in the 1992-1995 war. "Judges, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. I reject the verdict with contempt," he stood up and yelled immediately. He then drank a liquid from a small glass. "I just drank poison," he said. Praljak quickly fell ill and received assistance from the ICTY medical staff before he was rushed to hospital. Judge Carmel Agius immediately suspended the session. "In accordance with standard procedures, at the request of the ICTY, the Dutch authorities have initiated an independent investigation which is currently ongoing," the ICTY stated in a statement. "The tribunal has extended its condolences to the next of kin." The death of a convict on the same day as his final verdict in the courtroom is a novelty for the ICTY, but his is not the first death in the tribunal's history. A total of eight convicts died after their trials or while serving their sentence, and seven accused passed away after their cases were transferred to the tribunal, according to information from the ICTY. | 
