Cyanide found in Croat general Praljak

Prosecutors in the Netherlands say an autopsy on a former Croatian general who died after swallowing a liquid at a war crimes hearing shows he had cyanide in his system.

The Hague Public Prosecutor's Office said in a statement on Friday night that preliminary results from a toxicological test revealed "a concentration of potassium cyanide" in Slobodan Praljak's blood.

The cyanide caused heart failure that the statement described as the 72-year-old Praljak's "suspected cause of death."

Praljak drank from a small bottle seconds after an appeals judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia confirmed his 20-year sentence for crimes during the 1992-95 Bosnian war

Two Croatian experts observed the autopsy at the tribunal's request.