Višegrad trial remains in Hague

Milan and Sredoje Lukić, charged with the 1992 Višegrad crimes, will face trial in the Hague, and not in Sarajevo.

Izvor: BIRN

Saturday, 21.07.2007.

14:20

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Višegrad trial remains in Hague

The two Bosnian Serbs have pleaded not guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to charges of crimes against humanity and violation of war customs and laws. The alleged crimes include burning to death 140 men, women and children barricaded in two Višegrad houses in 1992.

The indictment alleges that in the spring 1992 Milan Lukić established a paramilitary group also known as White Eagles and that Sredoje Lukić was among its members.

The tribunal’s Appeal Chamber ruled on July 11 that Milan Lukić’s case should be prosecuted in The Hague and not sent to Sarajevo as previously suggested by the same Referral Bench.

"Based on the allegations in the indictment, Milan Lukić would likely be marked as the most significant paramilitary leader tried by the Tribunal to date," judges ruled.

The two cases are closely related, the Lukićs were charged in a joint indictment, a large number of victims were identical in both cases, and the majority of the witnesses in both cases were subject to protective measures, prosecutors said.

The Court accepted the Prosecution's argument "that separate trials would have risked increasing the trauma for witnesses, who would have had to testify twice."

It was also agreed that having two trials might cause "legal inconsistency". Bosnian authorities expressed a similar position to the Tribunal on July 17.

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