The war-time commander of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) is the only of the six accused and their defence counsel who used the possibility to address the trial chamber at the beginning of the trial, while the others will do it when the defence starts presenting evidence.
During the four-hour multimedia presentation, Praljak used maps, tables and video recordings to describe the history of the Croat people from the 11th to the 20th century, their suffering under foreign rulers, aspirations to independence, the 1990s break-up of Yugoslavia, the Serb aggression on Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the history and consequences of the Croat-Muslim conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Praljak presented the extensive materials in a coherent and convincing manner. He described the war from a perspective different than the prosecutor's, citing evidence of Muslim crimes against Croats, including a 1993 propaganda film showing the Mujahedeen killing captured and wounded HVO members.
"Nobody is thinking about justifying evil, but it is a law of nature that evil begets evil," Praljak said in comment on some shocking scenes from the film.
The Croats "did not generate evil, they fought against it," Praljak said, stressing that he would prove that what had been done had been done with that aim.
Giving an example of how facts could be interpreted, he said that in a formal and legal sense "Bosnia-Herzegovina was an aggressor on Croatia" together with Serbia and Montenegro because Croatia was attacked from Bosnia's territory during the entire war. He underlined the 1991/92 shelling of Slavonski Brod from Bosnia-Herzegovina, during which 185 people, including 27 children, were killed.
He went on to say that the Croat-Muslim conflict started with an attack by the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina on the HVO, although Bosnia-Herzegovina received all military assistance and equipment via Croatia and Muslim refugees from Bosnia found shelter in Croatia and in the territory of Herceg-Bosna.
Praljak said that the war in the area of the former Yugoslavia had started back in 1918 as a war of low intensity, during which Croats were exposed to state terror and repression.
He condemned "the grave crimes" committed by the regime of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), saying that there was a very small number of people in Croatia today who were not ashamed of that period in their history. He stressed that Croats were among the first nations in Europe to join the anti-fascist struggle at the time.
Speaking about the former Yugoslav federation, Praljak said that it was based on a cruel dictatorship which expelled more than half a million members of the German, Italian and Polish minorities, and that Tito was one of the worst dictators.
The trial will continue on Tuesday with the introduction of the first witness for the prosecution, historian Robert Donia.
The six former Bosnian Croat political and military leaders - Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Valentin Coric, Berislav Pusic, Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj Petkovic - are charged with 26 counts of crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war and grave violations of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.