The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has filed an indictment against Petar (Bonifacije) Barbarić, a 90-year-old Franciscan friar from Čapljina, for allegedly glorifying Slobodan Praljak, who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Hague Tribunal.
The Court of BiH has confirmed the indictment.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Barbarić is accused of glorifying Praljak last year at a local cemetery in Čapljina, beside an illegally erected monument dedicated to him. Prosecutors allege that his actions constituted the criminal offense of inciting national, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance.
The Prosecutor’s Office added that the investigation would continue to identify those responsible for illegally installing the monument.
Barbarić’s speech was reported by several online news outlets, attracting a large number of views and public reactions.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, Barbarić was born in 1936 and holds citizenship of both BiH and Croatia. He is charged under Article 145a of the Criminal Code of BiH, which concerns incitement to national, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance, including the glorification of individuals convicted of war crimes by final judgments.
Speech delivered beside the monument in Čapljina
According to the indictment, Barbarić delivered a speech on November 2, 2025, at a local cemetery in Čapljina, beside a monument dedicated to Praljak. Prosecutors allege that the speech glorified the convicted war criminal.
Praljak, who is buried in Zagreb, was convicted by a final judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on November 29, 2017.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that Barbarić claimed during his speech that the monument to Praljak had been “brought to Čapljina by angels.”
“Brothers and sisters, today is a special day. General Praljak has returned to his Herzegovina, to his Čapljina. Everything you see here was created by angels, and angels are the extended hand of God. That is why we do not mention anyone in particular, but simply thank the extended hand of God, our angels who made this possible,” Barbarić reportedly said.
Claimed Praljak wanted to “liberate Herzegovina”
According to prosecutors, Barbarić also claimed during his speech that Praljak had “completed three university degrees” and that his goal had been to “liberate Herzegovina from the aggressors, who at that time were the Serbs.”
The Prosecutor’s Office said the speech contained other controversial claims, including an assertion that, during the Croat-Muslim conflict, no one had done as much for the Muslim people in every respect as Praljak.
Barbarić also reportedly claimed that “Croats, both in Croatia and BiH, never attacked anyone but defended themselves and their ancestral territories.”
Investigation into the monument’s installation
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH announced that the investigation would continue to determine who installed the monument, given that it commemorates a person convicted of war crimes by a final judgment.
Slobodan Praljak was sentenced by the ICTY to 20 years in prison for crimes committed during the war in BiH. The case concerned crimes committed as part of a joint criminal enterprise associated with the structures of the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and units of the Croatian Defence Council under his command influence.
Following the delivery of the final judgment in 2017, Praljak drank poison in the courtroom and subsequently died.
Source: Glas Srpske
