General Vladimir Lazarević was born 23 March 1949 in the village of Grnčar in the municipality of Babušnica, SR Serbia of the SFR Yugoslavia.

[1][5] The indictment against Lazarević claims that he was part of "a joint criminal enterprise which had the aim, in addition to other objectives, to expel a major part of the Kosovo Albanian civilians from the province in which they were living in order to maintain this province under Serb control.

[1] One of his duties as Chief of Staff of the Priština Corps was to monitor the border between Kosovo and Albania.

On 1 April 2002 by the decree of Vojislav Koštunica (then president of Yugoslavia), Lazarević was appointed to the position of chief of the ground forces.

[2][5] After agreeing to hand himself over to the Hague Tribunal, he was praised by Serbian Patriarch Pavle and Koštunica; Koštunica described his surrender as a "difficult decision in the interest of the homeland" and stated that "the General acting in line with a long-standing tradition of the Serbian army, namely, that our officers fight for the interests of the people and country until the bitter end".

[8] On 26 February 2009 the Trial Chamber found Lazarević guilty of deportation, other inhumane acts including forcible transfer, he was to sentenced 15 years’ imprisonment.

[11] He was granted early release, having served two thirds of his sentence, on 7 September 2015, effective 3 December 2015.