On 14 October 2025, the Higher Court in Belgrade, War Crimes Department, rendered a first-instance verdict in the retrial against Gojko Lukić, Duško Vasiljević, and Dragana Đekić, finding them guilty of the abduction of civilians from a train at the Štrpci station in Bosnia and Herzegovina, their subsequent abuse, torture, and killing – of 18 civilians of Bosniak nationality, one civilian of Croatian nationality, and one civilian of unidentified identity. The defendants Gojko Lukić and Duško Vasiljević were each sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Dragana Đekić received a sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment.
This second first-instance judgment was delivered 33 years after the crime was committed. The proceedings before the War Crimes Department lasted more than seven years. In determining the sentence, the court took into account only mitigating circumstances – the family situations of Gojko Lukić and Duško Vasiljević, and, in the case of Dragana Đekić, the fact that she was a minor at the time of the crime.
The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) considers that the sentences of five to ten years in prison are unjust, given the gravity of the crime and the responsibility of the defendants, who committed one of the gravest war crimes against Bosniak civilians, citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. According to the HLC, the court completely disregarded the seriousness of the crime and its consequences for the victims’ families. Particularly disturbing is the fact that one of the victims, Senad Zečević, was a minor. The imposed sentences suggest that the court considered six months of imprisonment to be an adequate punishment for the abduction and killing of one person.
The verdict is also unjust toward the victims and their families, who have waited 33 years for judicial acknowledgment and for the discovery of the burial sites containing the remains of 16 victims still missing.
The HLC agrees with the court’s assessment that the retrial contributed to clarifying the facts and resolving ambiguities from the first-instance proceedings. The witness, convicted war criminal Milan Lukić, submitted a document confirming that he had been a member of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and that the unit “Avengers”, which he commanded and whose members were among the convicts in this trial, was part of the VRS. It was also established that the witness Krsto Papić was certain that one of the perpetrators was a woman – Dragana Đekić.
HLC finds that the greatest contribution of the trial should lie in the facts established – that the crime was a planned act, identifying its perpetrators and the deep involvement of the state authorities of the FRY in the crime, as well as in preserving the memory of the victims.
After the verdict was announced, Nail Kajević, the brother of the still-missing Nijazim Kajević, said:
“I hoped that after more than three decades of denial, they would finally admit it and show remorse. Nothing – they keep repeating that it wasn’t them. The judge could have at least said something about those who ordered the crime. Not a single word about them”.
Victims
Adem Alomerović (59), Prijepolje
Džafer Topuzović (55), Prijepolje
Fevzija Zeković (54), Prijepolje
Fikret Memović (40), Prijepolje
Nijazim Kajević (30), Prijepolje
Muhedin Hanić (27), Prijepolje
Safet Preljević (22), Prijepolje
Tomo Buzov (52), Belgrade
Rasim Ćorić (40), Zalugu
Senad Đečević (16), Bar
Šećo Softić (48), Bijelo Polje
Fehim Bakija (43), Bijelo Polje
Iljaz Ličina (43), Bijelo Polje
Rifet Husović (26), Bijelo Polje
Esad Kapetanović (19), Bijelo Polje
Jusuf Rastoder (45), Podgorica
Ismet Babačić (30), Podgorica
Halil Zupčević (49), refugee from Trebinje
Zvjezdan Zuličić (23), refugee from Sarajevo
Unidentified male, Sjenica
Located, Identified, and Buried
The remains of Halil Zupčević were found in late 2009 on the shore of Lake Perućac.
The remains of Rasim Ćorić, Jusuf Rastoder, and Iljaz Ličina were exhumed from Lake Perućac in 2010.
