Verdict in Milan Lukic Trial Scheduled for Next Week

Lukic has been charged with participating in murders in the village of Pudin Han near Kljuc in 1992.  
 
In his closing arguments, cantonal prosecutor Jasmin Mesic called on the court to hand down a guilty verdict, while the defense called for an acquittal.

Prior to the presentation of closing arguments, defense witnesses Sinisa Babic and Predrag Bajic testified. Babic and Bajic were originally indicted along with Lukic, but had plead guilty. Bajic was sentenced to 13 years in prison, while Babic was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
 
Babic said he reached out to Milan Romanic, Lukic’s defense attorney, because his conscience couldn’t allow Lukic to be held responsible for crimes he didn’t commit.

“I saw Lukic for the first time here in the courtroom and I came to tell the truth, because he didn’t commit crimes,” Babic said.
 
Babic said he and a group of men went to a house in Pudin Han on July 27, 1992, where they killed two civilians. Babic said Lukic wasn’t with them.

“Nikica Lukic showed us the house Predrag Bajic and Drasko Krajcar entered. Soon they escorted Ibrahim Kumalic out of the house. Kumalic led us to another house. I didn’t go into that house either, but I could hear yelling and shooting. They stayed for a longer time and then after that they took out another man. They continued to yell and throw blows and at one point, I heard a shot and I saw that Krajcar had killed Ibrahim Kumalic. The other man was probably scared because of what had just happened, he started to run and Bajic shot and killed him,” Babic said.

Predrag Bajic said Lukic didn’t participate in the Pudin Han killings, which were committed by Drasko Krajcar.

“Lukic strongly resembles Drasko. When I signed the plea agreement I didn’t make a personal statement, the prosecutor dictated it. I thought I had to sign it. I’ve never heard anything bad about Milan Lukic,” Bajic said.
 
Prosecutor Jasmin Mesic read a statement Bajic gave when the plea agreement, which mentioned Lukic, was signed. Bajic said he wouldn’t have signed the plea agreement now.
 
Upon the request of the defense, Drasko Krajcar was also examined. Krajcar said he was never in Pudin Han as a member of the Bosnian Serb Army during the war, and said he knew nothing about the crimes that took place there.
 
“I don’t understand why they’re pulling me into this story when I had nothing to do with it,” Krajcar said.

Krajcar and Bajic were examined again as they had offered contradictory statements. Their statements remained the same.