BELGRADE, March 12 (Hina) - The assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was carried out by the mobster clan from Zemun, the Serbian government said in a media statement on Wednesday night. The premier was assassinated
following statements about an impending arrest of "the largest organised crime group on the territory of the former Yugoslavia", the statement said.
BELGRADE, March 12 (Hina) - The assassination of Serbian Prime
Minister Zoran Djindjic was carried out by the mobster clan from
Zemun, the Serbian government said in a media statement on
Wednesday night. The premier was assassinated following statements
about an impending arrest of "the largest organised crime group on
the territory of the former Yugoslavia", the statement said. #L#
The same estimate was given by Serbian Vice-Premier Zarko Korac at a
meeting with media editors and foreign correspondents in Belgrade
this evening.
"This is the defence of the state, this state will defend itself,"
Korac told reporters, adding that arrests would be made as early as
tonight and the state of emergency imposed today would not last
long.
Korac confirmed that 20 persons were held responsible for
Djindjic's murder as well as for a series of unresolved murders,
including the kidnapping of former Serbian president Ivan
Stambolic in August 2000. Those persons include Milorad Lukovic
(Ulemek) Legija, a former commander of a special operations unit
known as the Red Berets; Dusan Spasojevic a.k.a. Siptar; Mile
Lukovic a.k.a. Kum and Dejan Milenkovic a.k.a. Bagzi, who was
recently arrested on suspicion of trying to cause a traffic
accident on a road leading to Belgrade airport in which Djindjic was
to be killed. Milenkovic was released two days later with the
explanation that charges against him only referred to car theft and
the forging of identification documents, and not an attempted
assassination.
"The assassination of Premier Zoran Djindjic is an attempt by this
group to stop the fight against organised crime that has started and
to avoid arrest," reads the government statement. It also notes
that apart from the said persons, the mobster clan also included
"another 200 criminals" and that it had attempted to "stir up chaos,
lawlessness and fear" in the country.
"In such circumstances, referring to patriotism, the group would
try to win the support of some political structures in order to
avoid responsibility for their criminal acts."
The persons named in the government statement were to be arrested
these days, Korac said, adding that the circle of people behind
Djindjic's assassination was even wider.
Korac said that from the moment the state of emergency was imposed
in the country the Serbian intelligence, in line with
constitutional and other regulations, had wider powers, including
the wiretapping of phones and the control of other communications
without court warrants and suspects being held in custody up to 30
days.
(hina) rml