The second of the four generals of the VJ and Serbian police indicted for the crimes in Kosovo in 1999 surrenders voluntarily to the ICTY


Eighteen months after he was indicted for the crimes committed by MUP forces in Kosovo in the first half of 1999, Serbian police general Sreten Lukic was today transferred to the UN Detention Unit, it was announced at the Tribunal. At the time relevant for the indictment, General Lukic was in command of all the Serbian MUP forces deployed in Kosovo.

He is the second of the four VJ and Serbian police generals indicted by the OTP for the crimes in Kosovo to come to the UN Detention Unit. General Vladimir Lazarevic, former commander of the VJ Pristina Corps, surrendered to the Tribunal two months before Sreten Lukic. Still at large are General Nebojsa Pavkovic, commander of the 3rd Army at the time relevant for the indictment (his area of responsibility included Kosovo) and General Vlastimir Djordjevic, the then assistant to the interior minister and chief of the Public Security Sector. They have been charged with mass murders and deportations of Albanian civilians from Kosovo between 1 January and 20 July 1999.

The indictment against the four generals, issued in October 2003, is identical to the previous Kosovo indictment issued against their superiors, Slobodan Milosevic – currently on trial – and Milan Milutinovic, Nikola Sainovic and Dragoljub Ojdanic, awaiting trial in the UN Detention Unit. They are all charged with the deportations and forcible transfer of about 800,000 Kosovo Albanians in the first half of 1999, mass murder of civilians at some fifteen locations all over Kosovo – from Racak to Izbica and Suva Reka – and for the persecution of the Kosovo Albanian population on political, racial and religious grounds.

In light of the fact that the indictments are identical, it is to be expected that the prosecution will be filing an application to try generals Lukic and Lazervic – as well as Pavkovic and Djordjevic, if and when they come to The Hague – together with Milutinovic, Sainovic and Ojdanic.

The date for General Lukic’s initial appearance before an ICTY judge will be announced later.

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