THE HAGUE,The Netherlands - Serbian war criminal Milan Lukic this week told the Hague tribunal that he fears for his life if his case is transferred to the Bosnian State Court.
Judges have ordered that the case against Serbian war criminals Milan Lukic – and his cousin Sredoje Lukic with whom he is being tried – be transferred to Bosnia’s war crimes chamber in Sarajevo.
Milan Lukic has appealed that decision, and in court on June 11 claimed his life and the lives of his family and witnesses would be in danger if the case is heard in Bosnia. He then said he “will not leave The Hague alive”.
The case has been transferred under a policy which allows for lower- and mid-ranking accused to be dealt with by local courts in the Balkans.
Serbian war criminal Milan Lukic was indicted in 1998 and arrested in Buenos Aires in 2005 following a joint operation between the Argentinean police and Interpol. He told the court this week that the court in Argentina agreed to his extradition only if he was not sent on to a third country.
Serbian war criminal Milan Lukic then questioned whether he would get a fair trial in Bosnia.He was the leader of the notorious Serbian paramilitary unit "White Eagels".He is accused of instigating a terror campaign against Bosnian civilians in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad during the early stages of the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.
Serbian war criminals Milan and Sredoje Lukic are charged with multiple crimes, including murdering approximately 70 Bosnian women, children and elderly men in a house on Pionirska Street in Visegrad by barricading the victims in one room of the house, setting the house on fire and then firing automatic weapons at those people who tried to escape through the windows, killing most of them.
In addition, they are charged with murdering approximately 70 Bosnian women, children and elderly in a house in the village of Bikavac, near Visegrad, by forcing the victims into the house, barricading all the exits and throwing in several explosive devices.
Serbian war criminals Milan and Sredoje Lukic are also accused of troturing Bosnian men who were detained in the concentration camp at the Uzamnica military barracks in Visegrad.Lukic is separately charged with several other counts of murder, according to which he on multiple occasions led groups of Bosnian civilians to the bank of Drina river near Visegrad where he murdered them. He is also charged with brutally murdering a Bosnian woman in the Potok neighbourhood of Visegrad.
. The 21-count indictment includes 12 counts of crimes against humanity and nine of violations of the laws and customs of war between 1992 and 1994.
