Witness in Lukić case recounts atrocities

A witness in the trial of Milan and Sredoje Lukic recounted a massive killing and burning of Muslims in Visegrad which she survived. The witness, Zehra Turjacanin, told the Hague Tribunal judges said that on June 27, 1992, Milan Lukic and some uniformed people gathered the residents of the Bikavac community in Visegrad and locked them in the home of Meho Aljic. Those imprisoned were mostly children and women with a few older men, according to Turjacanin. Witness in Lukic case recounts atrocities After the people were forced inside the house, Lukic and others started breaking the windows with rocks and then throwing bombs inside. After that, the house was set on fire, which only Turjacanin survived. She was able to save herself by slipping through a small hole between the wall and steel door which blocked the exit off. There are scars from her narrow escape visible on her body and face. She testified before the Tribunal speaking French. Her mother, two sisters, one of which was disabled, and two nephews died in the fire, as well as her sister-in-law along with her son. After fleeing the home, the witness was recovering for several days in a neighbor’s house, but then one soldier warned her that she better leave, "because Milan Lukic knows where she is and he could come back to finish the job”. Turjacanin left Visegrad escaping on foot mostly, and then she left Bosnia. Before going into the details of the crime, she told the court that she knew Lukic since childhood and that they went to school together, where her brother Dzevad and the accused shared the same bench. For this reason, the court observers were surprised to hear Turjacanin, asked if she recognized anyone present in the courtroom, say that she did not. When asked the same question again, she glanced in the direction of Milan and Sredoje Lukic, and repeated the same aswer. Judge Patrick Robinson wished to know her why she was testifying in French, to which the witness answered that she had “cut off all ties with Bosnia” and that she has another country whose language she wants to speak. She also said that while the house with the victims inside was burning, Lukic and his men where lying down on a nearby lawn watching the flames. The Lukic brothers are accused of several murders and the torturing of Muslims in Visegrad, Bosnia, during the 1992-1995 war in that country. According to the indictment, 140 people were killed in the burning of two houses in that town alone.

Witness in Lukić case recounts atrocities

After the people were forced inside the house, Lukić and others started breaking the windows with rocks and then throwing bombs inside. After that, the house was set on fire, which only Turjačanin survived.

She was able to save herself by slipping through a small hole between the wall and steel door which blocked the exit off. There are scars from her narrow escape visible on her body and face. She testified before the Tribunal speaking French.

Her mother, two sisters, one of which was disabled, and two nephews died in the fire, as well as her sister-in-law along with her son.

After fleeing the home, the witness was recovering for several days in a neighbor’s house, but then one soldier warned her that she better leave, "because Milan Lukić knows where she is and he could come back to finish the job”.

Turjačanin left Višegrad escaping on foot mostly, and then she left Bosnia.

Before going into the details of the crime, she told the court that she knew Lukić since childhood and that they went to school together, where her brother Dževad and the accused shared the same bench.

For this reason, the court observers were surprised to hear Turjačanin, asked if she recognized anyone present in the courtroom, say that she did not.

When asked the same question again, she glanced in the direction of Milan and Sredoje Lukić, and repeated the same aswer.

Judge Patrick Robinson wished to know her why she was testifying in French, to which the witness answered that she had “cut off all ties with Bosnia” and that she has another country whose language she wants to speak.

She also said that while the house with the victims inside was burning, Lukić and his men where lying down on a nearby lawn watching the flames.

The Lukić brothers are accused of several murders and the torturing of Muslims in Višegrad, Bosnia, during the 1992-1995 war in that country.

According to the indictment, 140 people were killed in the burning of two houses in that town alone.