Trial of Milan Lukic Begins

Prior to the reading of the indictment and examination of witnesses, Defence attorney Milan Romanic requested the exemption of the Trial Chamber chaired by Reuf Kapic.

This request was rejected at a general Court’s session. After that Prosecution witness Nisvet Ticevic said that the indictee was in a house yard, when Ibrahim Draganovic was taken out of the house and killed.

“Several of us slept in Ramiz Draganovic’s house. At around 10.30 p.m. we heard banging on the door. Ramiz’s wife Mina opened the door. I heard the voice of Predrag Bajic, whom I have known since childhood. He asked her to give him money. She gave him what she had, telling him that she did not have any more money,” the witness recalled.

As he said, Bajic took him and Ibrahim Drganovic out to the yard, holding a gun pointed towards them. Milan Lukic, Nenad Bajic and Sinisa Babic were in the yard already.

Ticevic said that Bajic asked for money again. When Ibrahim Draganovic told him that he had no more money, Bajic shot at them, killing Draganovic.

“I went to the checkpoint later on and reported this to Mico Marjanovic. I told him that I recognised Predrag and Nenad Bajic, as well as Milan Lukic, but I did not know who the fourth soldier was. I asked him to check that. He told me not to tell anyone that I knew who they were and that it was best for me to keep quiet if I wanted to stay alive,” witness Ticevic said.

He said that he was surprised by the fact that the indictee was present, when Draganovic was killed.

“I have known Milan since childhood. He was a nice and good child. This is why I am so surprised by the fact that he might participate in all that,” Ticevic said.

Indictee Lukic said that he “would never wish anything bad to happen to his neighbours, let alone participate in something like that”.

Lukic was charged along with Predrag and Nenad Bajic, Sinisa Babic, Slobodan Dragic and Mladenko Vrtunic, former members of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having participated in the murders, rape and inhumane treatment of people in Humici, Vojici and Pudin Han villages, Kljuc municipality, in 1992 and 1993.

In late January the process against the indictee was separated from the process against the other indictees due to his illness.

Attorney Romanic said that he was not informed that the witness would be examined at this hearing. He requested the Court to let him and his client have at least five days in order to prepare for the examination of the witness.

The Chamber rejected this request, explaining that the Defence had been informed about all pieces of evidence, which the Prosecution planned to present, and that it should have been ready for the examination.

Saying that he was deprived of the right to speak and that he did not want to attend “this farce”, Romanic left the courtroom.

Judge Kapic addressed a reprimand to attorney Romanic and fined him and postponed the continuation of the main trial until a new attorney had been appointed to represent Lukic. Lukic said that it was in his interest to complete this process as soon as possible and “clear his name”.