Belgrade Court Urged to Jail Serb Fighters for Bosnia Train Killings

The Serbian Prosecutor's Office for War Crimes urged Belgrade Higher Court on Tuesday to convict four defendants accused of involvement in the abduction and subsequent killing of passengers from a train at Strpci station in February 1993 and give them "the maximum prison sentences".

"I propose that the court find them guilty and sentence… Gojko Lukic, Dusko Vasiljevic and Jovan Lipovac to 20 years, and Dragana Djekic to ten years, bearing in mind that she was underage at the time the crime was carried out," prosecutor Vasilije Seratlic told the court in his closing argument.

Three of the defendants - Gojko Lukic, Vasiljevic and Djekic - were allegedly members of the Avengers paramilitary unit led by Milan Lukic, a convicted war criminal who is Gojko Lukic's brother.

Lipovac, the other defendant in the trial, was a Bosnian Serb Army soldier at the time of the crime, according to the indictment.

The defendants all pleaded not guilty and in their closing statements, their lawyers urged the court to acquit their clients.

Zeljko Sankovic, the lawyer for Gojko Lukic, said that the only reason he is on trial is because "he is carrying the burden of his last name and his brother, which is why they put him [in the indictment] and not because he committed this crime".

All the defence lawyers claimed that some of the prosecution's key witnesses were instructed in what to say and told to falsely accuse their clients.

Lipovac's lawyer Djordje Dozet accused the prosecution of incompetence in bringing the charges and the Serbian state of having a "lack of political will to solve a crime like this".

"Jovan Lipovac, however, is not responsible," he said.

The defence lawyers specifically criticised two medical experts'...