THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A United Nations war crimes court convicted two Bosnian Serb cousins yesterday for a 1992 killing spree that included locking scores of Muslims in two houses and burning them alive.
Yugoslav war crimes tribunal judge Patrick Robinson said burning at least 119 Muslims to death in the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad “exemplified the worst acts of inhumanity that one person may inflict on others.’’
He sentenced Milan Lukic to life in prison and Sredoje Lukic to 30 years.
Robinson said Milan Lukic was the ringleader in both incidents, helping herd victims into the houses, setting the fires and shooting those who fled the flames. The judgment said his cousin Sredoje Lukic aided and abetted in one of the blazes.
Witnesses “vividly remembered the terrible screams of the people in the house,’’ Robinson said, adding that Milan Lukic used the butt of his rifle to herd people into the house, saying, “Come on, let’s get as many people inside as possible.’’
The victims ranged from 2 days old to 75.
Milan Lukic shook his head but looked unmoved as Robinson pronounced sentence. Sredoje Lukic leaned back in his chair, his face blank. Robinson, a veteran judge at the tribunal that has prosecuted Balkan war crimes for 15 years, sounded stunned by the atrocities.
“In the all-too-long, sad, and wretched history of man’s inhumanity to man, the Pionirska street and Bikavac fires must rank high,’’ he said.
Prosecutors seeking to clear the court’s docket had asked for the case to be handed to a Bosnian court because the cousins were relatively low-ranking suspects. But tribunal judges refused, saying the allegations were so serious they should be handled in The Hague.
They welcomed yesterday’s verdicts, which can still be appealed.
“The prosecutor is satisfied with this decision because it reflects the gravity of the crimes committed and the responsibility of the accused,’’ spokeswoman Olga Karvan said.
