Draze Lakic Jailed for Murder

The district court in Banja Luka convicted Lakic, a former member of a Serb paramilitary unit called the Wolves From Vucka, of the murder of civilian Zlatko Alilovic on February 18, 1993.

“The court assessed all the evidence and statements from witnesses, decided that the prosecution’s claims have been proven beyond any doubt and established that Lakic committed the crime he was charged with,” said presiding judge Olga Pantic.

The court had heard how Lakic and two other members of the Wolves From Vucka unit arrived at a Bosniak family’s house on the day of the murder. They kicked the people in the house and hit them with rifle butts, asking for money. When one man went to a room to bring money, Lakic went after him and killed him.

The fact that the defendant was a young man in his early twenties at the time of the murder and that he behaved decently at the trial and had no prior convictions were accepted as extenuating circumstances by the court.

“When it comes to aggravating circumstances, Lakic killed a young man by firing five shots into him. He also beat up women in the house,” said Pantic.

The chamber dismissed objections from the defence that the Banja Luka court was not really competent to hear the case.

Lakic can appeal to the supreme court of Republika Srpska.