The commander of the Croat forces, Slobodan Praljak, 72 years old, was on trial for alleged war crimes committed in Bosnia in the early 1990s, after he was involved in a campaign to drive Muslims out of Bosnia. He was sentenced originally in 2013.

The bloody 1992-95 war in Bosnia, in which 100,000 people died and 2.2 million were displaced, mainly pitted Bosnian Muslims against Bosnian Serbs, but also saw brutal fighting between Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats after an initial alliance fell apart.

After the judge said that his 20 years’ prison sentence had been upheld, he took a small bottle of glass from his pocket and shouted out angrily: “Praljak is not a criminal. I reject your verdict.” And drank the liquid after he claimed that it’s poison.

As court officials surrounded the Praljak, the judge, Carmel Agius, immediately ordered the proceedings suspended and the curtains screening the courtroom were abruptly closed to the public.

Then, several emergency rescue workers rushed into the building carrying equipment in backpacks. A court guard later appealed for calm, saying Praljak was alive and “receiving all necessary medical attention”.