Stories about an Avenger from Gorazde

Dzenita Muhic said that Milan Lukic, who was accompanied by some unknown soldiers, came in front of their family house in Dusce in May 1992. As she said, they ordered them to get their truck out of the garage and load the things they had. She said her father gave Lukic a bag with money.  

She said that, after that her father and brother went away with Lukic in his car, while her mother stayed in the house, waiting for them to come back. The witness said that she went to her aunt’s house and saw Lukic coming back with the soldiers in the evening hours.

“They entered the house. It was dark already, so I do not know what happened afterwards,” she said.

As she said, in the early morning on the following day she went to her house and saw her mother lying dead. She said that her brother’s remains were found last year and her father’s the year before.

The indictment alleges that Sekaric, who was accompanied by Lukic and other soldiers, came in front of the witness’ house, requesting them to hand over all of their money and valuables and ordering them to load all the goods from the garage onto their truck.

After the civilians had loaded the goods, the indictment alleges that one of the soldiers ordered the witness’ father and son to enter a car and drove them to an unknown direction. According to the charges, they came back in the evening and killed the witness’ mother.  

The Hague Tribunal sentenced Lukic to life imprisonment for crimes committed in Visegrad.

Witness Muhic said that she heard rumours that Seka, whom Bosniaks had beaten in Gorazde, was among “the Avengers”, and that he came to Visegrad in order to seek revenge for the beating.

“At that time people said that he was just like Lukic, if not even worse,” she said.

The Defence said that the witness did not mention Seka in her previous statements. The witness explained that she did not mention Seka, because she “did not give so much importance to that fact”.  

“I remembered this recently,” she said.

Witness Nurko Dervisevic said that Lukic and his group used to come to Uzamnica detention camp, where he was detained in June 1992.

“Milan Lukic hit us. He did not care how. Lukic was not alone. He had his associates,” the witness said.

Witness Hajrudin Ahmetspahic, who was brought to Uzamnica in the summer of 1992, testified at this hearing as well. He said that he did not see the person, whom he had seen in the village before, whose name, as he heard, was Dragan Sekaric and who was from Gorazde, in the detention camp.  

The trial is due to continue on August 18.