Serbian War Criminal Transferred to Tartu Prison
A convoy from the Estonian Prison Service has taken Milan Lukić to Tartu Prison to serve the life term in accordance with his conviction by the International Criminal Tribune for the Former Yugoslavia.
Lukić headed the paramilitary unit White Eagles (Beli Orlovi) that committed atrocities against the local Muslim population in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war, spokesman of the Estonian Ministry of Justice Maria-Elisa Tuulik told uudised.err.ee on Monday.
The tribunal handed a life sentence to Lukić in 2009 and the appeals court rejected his plea in 2012.
Lukić was found guilty in crimes against humanity and war crimes, specifically for persecution on political, ethnic and religious grounds, murder, inhuman acts and extermination and cruel treatment, mostly concerning the killing of Bosnian Muslims, mainly women and children, in the Višegrad municipality.
Lukić will serve his sentence under the same terms as other convicts in Estonian penal institutions.
Estonia admits Yugoslavian war criminals according to an agreement made with the UN tribunal in 2008. “Since Estonia has suffered crimes against humanity and such crimes have been committed on Estonian soil, it is our duty to contribute to revealing and condemning such crimes and to punishing the criminals,” Rein Lang, then the minister of justice, has said.
Two war criminals have been transferred to Estonia previously - Milan Martić in 2009 and Dragomir Milošević in 2011.