ICTY: Milan and Sredoje Lukic Verdict Set for July 20

The Trial Chamber in The Hague will deliver judgment in the case of Milan and Sredoje Lukic on July 20, 2009. The two cousins are charged with crimes against civilians committed in Visegrad in 1992.

The indictment alleges that the two men participated in  incinerating 70 Bosniak women, children and the elderly in a house that was set on fire in Pionirska Street, and 70 more persons in Bikavac settlement.

In addition, they are charged with the torture and beating of Bosniaks who were detained in Uzamnica Barracks.

Milan Lukic is separately charged with the shooting of Bosniaks on the banks of the Drina.

Milan Lukic is charged, as commander of the “Beli orlovi” (“White Eagles”) or “Osvetnici” (“Avengers”) paramilitary unit in Visegrad, with war crimes and crimes against humanity, while Sredoje Lukic, a pre-war policeman from Visegrad, is charged, as a member of the paramilitary unit, with crimes against humanity.

In its closing arguments, delivered on May 19 and 20, 2009, the Prosecution asked for verdicts that will “ensure that the two of them spend the rest of their lives in prison”, while the defence argued that the charges had not been proven, and called for acquittal.

Milan Lukic was arrested in Argentina in the summer of 2005. Sredoje surrendered to the Republika Srpska authorities in 2005, after having been in hiding in Russia for several years. The initial indictment against them was filed in 1997.

The trial began in July 2008.