Bosnian Croat Mladen Naletilic also known as Tuta, who was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to 20 years for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was given an early release and the Italian ANSA news agency reported on Sunday that Naletilic, who has been serving his prison term in Rome, would be transferred to Croatia in the coming days.
According to ANSA, Naletilic was provisionally released for health reasons after he served two-thirds of his term.
Naletilic, whom the ICTY described as the founder and commander of the Bosnian Croat “Kaznjenicka Bojna” (Convicts’ Battalion), and Vinko Martinovic a.k.a. Stela were put on trial in the same case before the Hague-based tribunal and were found guilty of war crimes against local Bosniaks in a wider Mostar area. On 31 March 2003, the ICTY sentenced Naletilic to 20 years and Martinovic to 18 years for crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions.
Naletilic, arrested in Croatia in 1997, was transferred to the Hague-based tribunal in March 2000 and since then he has been behind bars,
Martinovic was provisionally released in January 2012.
