"The HVO (Croat Defence Council) destroyed the Old Bridge in Mostar on 8 November 1993. The majority, Judge Antonetti dissenting, concluded that 'although the bridge was used by the Army of BiH, and thus was a legitimate military target for HVO, its destruction constituted disproportionate damage for the Muslim civilian population of Mostar',",read a press release issued on the ICTY website.
The bridge was shelled all day November 8 and completely destroyed the day after. The original bridge was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 to replace an older wooden suspension bridge. Construction began in 1557 and took nine years.
The 16th-century Ottoman bridge crosses the river Neretva and connects two parts of the city.
The ICTY today found six former high-ranking officials from Herceg-Bosna guilty of war crimes against local Bosniaks, handing down long prison terms and ruling that a joint criminal enterprise, led by late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, was conducted.
The then Prime Minister of the Croat Community of Herceg-Bosna, Jadranko Prlic, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Defence Minister Bruno Stojic to 20, the Commanders of the Croat Defence Council (HVO), generals Milivoj Petkovic and Slobodan Praljak, to 20 years, HVO Military Police Commander Valentin Coric to 16 and the head of the Office for Exchange of War Prisoners, Berislav Pusic, to ten years in prison.
The prosecution asked for 40-year sentences for Prlic, Stojic, Praljak and Petkovic, 35 years for Coric and 25 for Pusic. The defence argued that they be acquitted.
The ICTY ruled that a joint criminal enterprise allegedly led by Croatia's president, the late Franjo Tudjman, with the aim of ethnically cleansing the area under the control of Herceg-Bosna and creating a Greater Croatia, was conducted.