BELGRADE HOME ALL THE TIME AFTER DJINDJIC'S MURDER BELGRADE, May 4 (Hina) - Milorad Lukovic aka Legija, the principal indictee in the trial concerning the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who turned himself in
to the police on Sunday, had been hiding in his Belgrade home all the time since Djindjic's murder on 12 March 2003, Lukovic's lawyer said on Tuesday.
BELGRADE, May 4 (Hina) - Milorad Lukovic aka Legija, the principal
indictee in the trial concerning the assassination of Serbian Prime
Minister Zoran Djindjic, who turned himself in to the police on
Sunday, had been hiding in his Belgrade home all the time since
Djindjic's murder on 12 March 2003, Lukovic's lawyer said on Tuesday.#L#
Lawyer Slobodan Milivojevic, who today saw his client for the first
time after his surrender, said Lukovic had been hiding in his house
upon instructions from two high-ranking police officers, but declined
to reveal the names of the officials. Milivojevic said that Lukovic
would reveal their names if he so wanted.
The lawyer went on to say that he did not know who the two officers
were and whether the incumbent leadership of the Serbian Interior
Ministry had known that Lukovic had been in his house all the time.
"He (Lukovic) was asked to say nothing and not to interfere and he was
told that 'something is fishy' in the assassination of Djindjic. Two
or three days after the assassination he received a message in writing
to keep a low profile," the lawyer said.
He refuted speculation that there was a deal on Lukovic's surrender
and that he was offered the status of a protected witness.
"Colonel Lukovic decided to turn himself in to the police as he
believes that the current authorities will abide by law and that the
real truth about the assassinations of Djindjic and Ivan Stambolic
will be established," Milivojevic said, adding that "there are some
documents" on connections between some individuals from the former
Djindjic government and criminals.
Radio B92 cited a former official of the Interior Ministry, who spoke
on condition of anonymity, as saying that after Djindjic's
assassination Lukovic's house had been searched twice or three times
by the ministry's gendarmerie and placed under surveillance.
Information that Legija was in his house all the time is beyond
boundaries of anybody's imagination, the same source told the radio.
Legija is also charged with the assassination of Stambolic, a former
Serbian Prime Minister and opponent of the regime of Slobodan
Milosevic, and an attempt on the life of the current Foreign Minister
of Serbia-Montenegro, Vuk Draskovic while Draskovic was an opposition
leader during the Milosevic rule in 2000.
Lukovic, a former commander of Serbia's special police units, will be
questioned in continuation of the trial of 13 persons accused of
Djindjic's assassination, due to resume at Belgrade's Special Court
for Organised Crime on May 10.
He is also to appear in the trial concerning the murder of Ivan
Stambolic and the attempted murder of Vuk Draskovic in Budva, which is
scheduled to begin on May 18.
(Hina) ms