Pionirska Street fire
Encyclopedia
The Pionirska Street fire was an atrocity perpetrated in Višegrad
, eastern Bosnia, on 14 June 1992 in which 59 Bosniak women, children and elderly people were murdered by being locked into one room of a house which was then set on fire.
on 27 June 1992 when he forced them into a house, blocked all exits and threw in several explosive devices and petrol, setting the house on fire.
It was found that on 14 June 1992 during the campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian Serb ethnic cleansing of the Drina Valley 70 Bosnian Muslim women, children and elderly men, most of them from the village of Koritnik, were confined in a house in Pionirska Street, Višegrad by the cousins Milan Lukić
and Sredoje Lukić
. They were locked into one room of the house which was then set on fire. Milan Lukić was found to have thrown an explosive device into the room, setting the house ablaze. 59 of the occupants died. Lukić shot at people trying to escape from the burning house. All the survivors still alive testified at the trial.
When Judge Patrick Robinson, presiding, summed up the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
's findings following the trial of Milan and Sredoje Lukić, he observed that "In the all too long, sad and wretched history of man’s inhumanity to man, the Pionirska street and Bikavac fires must rank high. At the close of the twentieth century, a century marked by war and bloodshed on a colossal scale, these horrific events stand out for the viciousness of the incendiary attack, for the obvious premeditation and calculation that defined it, for the sheer callousness and brutality of herding, trapping and locking the victims in the two houses, thereby rendering them helpless in the ensuing inferno, and for the degree of pain and suffering inflicted on the victims as they were burnt alive."
Višegrad
Višegrad is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Republika Srpska entity. It is on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice, Serbia.-History:...
, eastern Bosnia, on 14 June 1992 in which 59 Bosniak women, children and elderly people were murdered by being locked into one room of a house which was then set on fire.
Trial
On 20 July 2009 Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić were sentenced to life and 30 years’ imprisonment respectively, for crimes that include the Pionirska Street fire and the murder of at least 60 Bosniak civilians in the Bikavac fireBikavac fire
The Bikavac fire was an atrocity perpetrated in Bikavac, near Višegrad, eastern Bosnia, on 27 June 1992 in which at least 60 Bosniak civilians, mostly women and children, were killed after the house in which they were confined was set on fire.-Trial:...
on 27 June 1992 when he forced them into a house, blocked all exits and threw in several explosive devices and petrol, setting the house on fire.
It was found that on 14 June 1992 during the campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian Serb ethnic cleansing of the Drina Valley 70 Bosnian Muslim women, children and elderly men, most of them from the village of Koritnik, were confined in a house in Pionirska Street, Višegrad by the cousins Milan Lukić
Milan Lukic
Milan Lukić is a former head of the paramilitary group known as White Eagles who was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in July 2009 of crimes against humanity and violations of war customs committed in the Višegrad municipality of Bosnia and...
and Sredoje Lukić
Sredoje Lukić
Sredoje Lukić is a Bosnian Serb war criminal, the cousin and associate of Milan Lukić....
. They were locked into one room of the house which was then set on fire. Milan Lukić was found to have thrown an explosive device into the room, setting the house ablaze. 59 of the occupants died. Lukić shot at people trying to escape from the burning house. All the survivors still alive testified at the trial.
When Judge Patrick Robinson, presiding, summed up the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
's findings following the trial of Milan and Sredoje Lukić, he observed that "In the all too long, sad and wretched history of man’s inhumanity to man, the Pionirska street and Bikavac fires must rank high. At the close of the twentieth century, a century marked by war and bloodshed on a colossal scale, these horrific events stand out for the viciousness of the incendiary attack, for the obvious premeditation and calculation that defined it, for the sheer callousness and brutality of herding, trapping and locking the victims in the two houses, thereby rendering them helpless in the ensuing inferno, and for the degree of pain and suffering inflicted on the victims as they were burnt alive."