14 March 2003 Morning Edition

· Massive manhunt in Serbia to crack underworld group behind prime (AP)
· 3RD ROUNDUP: 56 held for Djindjic slaying, deputies rotate as P.M. (Dpa)
· Serbia says 200 arrested after PM's killing -radio (Reuters)
· Three people involved in Djindjic assassination: press (AFP)
· Police arrest hundreds, summon Milosevic's former security chiefs (AP)
· Brother of Milosevic rejects idea that revenge behind Serbian prime (AP)
· Gang bosses elude hunt for killers of Serbian PM (Guardian)
· Belgrade mourns assassinated PM (BBC)
· Organized Crime Still Strong in Serbia (AP)
· Assassination in Serbia (IHT)
· Fears Serbian PM's murder could destabilize volatile Balkans (AFP)
· Pivotal Alliance Frayed Before Serb's Death (Washington Post)
· Gang members blow the whistle (Beta)
· Solana and Patten fly in "to make dreams come true"(Beta)

Massive manhunt in Serbia to crack underworld group behind prime

By ALEKSANDAR VASOVIC

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ Serbia on Friday pressed a massive manhunt as police seized more members of an underworld group accused of slaying Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
In their first official statement since Djindjic was fatally shot in Belgrade on Wednesday, police chiefs said they arrested dozens of suspects associated with a gangland group known for its links with former President Slobodan Milosevic.
The police sweep _ dubbed Operation Whirlwind _ targeted members of the Zemun Clan, a shadowy crime network named after a Belgrade suburb, whose ranks included former paramilitaries loyal to Milosevic.
The government accused the group, allegedly the largest crime network in the Balkans, of Djindjic's slaying and several other past unsolved killings.
Nebojsa Covic, the acting prime minister, said more than 70 mob suspects were rounded up, although the group's top figures were still at large.
He confirmed that investigators also detained Milosevic's former state security chief, Jovica Stanisic, and his deputy, Franko Simatovic, who headed notorious Serb paramilitaries in the Bosnian and Croatian wars of the early 1990s.
Simatovic was seen on Thursday being led from his Belgrade home by three hooded policemen with machine guns.
Although long sidelined, the two are believed to have maintained significant influence among police and mob circles even after Milosevic's ouster in 2000.
The Zemun clan ringleader, Milorad Lukovic, nicknamed Legija, succeeded Simatovic in 1997 as commander of the units that committed atrocities against civilians during the Balkan wars.
Police also said their investigation uncovered that three assassins were responsible for shooting Djindjic. One of the men was armed with a sniper rifle and the other two had handguns. They fired through an open window on the second floor of a nearby building and then fled the scene on foot.
Covic said ``close ties were created during Milosevic's regime between crime figures, war criminals and war profiteers'' and that they likely joined forces to prevent Djindjic's efforts to crack down on crime and bring war crimes suspects to justice.
Serbian authorities introduced a nationwide state of emergency following the assassination, giving police and the military a free hand to arrest suspects without warrants and detain anyone for up to 30 days without bringing charges.
Djindjic had made enemies both for his pro-Western stance and for declaring war on organized crime, which had flourished under Milosevic.
He also outraged hardline nationalists for his determination to arrest war crimes suspects, including Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military commander believed to be hiding in Serbia.
Covic and four other Cabinet members are to be rotated as acting prime ministers until parliament elects Djindjic's successor.
Serbian residents, meanwhile, mourned Djindjic, who played a key role in ousting Milosevic from power in October 2000 and extraditing him to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
Since Wednesday, hundreds have been lining up at the government building where Djindjic was killed to lay flowers and light candles.
There were fears that the volatile Balkan country could plunge into violence in a possible power struggle for Djindjic's successor.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Djindjic's ``loss will be felt deeply.''
A ``new element of fragility and vulnerability'' has returned to the Balkans, Powell said, adding that the United States stands ready with Europe to help Serbia ``try to regroup and ... deal with this fragile situation.''
NATO ambassadors meeting in the North Atlantic Council said Djindjic's murder illustrated the necessity for vigorous action against organized crime and corruption.
``There can be no compromise or delays in acting against people who by this latest outrage have shown that they truly fear democracy and reform,'' the ambassadors said.
Djindjic's funeral was scheduled for Saturday.

3RD ROUNDUP: 56 held for Djindjic slaying, deputies rotate as P.M.

Belgrade (dpa) - Serbian police arrested 56 people suspected of being involved in the slaying of the country's Premier Zoran Djindjic, including eight members of the group blamed for the assassination, officials said late Thursday.
Meanwhile, the government moved to reassure the public that governance would continue, announcing that four of Djindjic's deputies would rotate as the acting head of government on a weekly basis.
Nebojsa Covic, who handles the southern Serbia crisis and Kosovo, would be the first, followed by Zarko Korac, Dusan Mihajlovic, and Miodrag Isakov. The rotation was determined until May 25.
The Serbian government said that the investigation since Wednesday's assassination turned up firm evidence about the ``direct involvement'' of the ``Zemun clan'' - regarded as the most powerful criminal organization in the Balkans.
The same group is suspected in the February 21 attempt on Djindjic's life, and for another 50 killings, kidnappings and attacks.
On Wednesday night the cabinet named 23 of the gang's 200 members, but it was not clear if all were suspects.
No details of the suspects were available, but the government said that three of the eight arrested gang-members requested to be placed on a list of protected whitnesses.
``At this time they are giving statements to the investigative jugde,'' officials said.
The three main suspects - the alleged leader and former special police unit and paramilitary commander, Milorad Ulemek, known also as Lukovic, and his top aides Dusan Spasojevic and Mile Lukovic - were still on the run.
Deputy premier Nebojsa Covic said the former chief of the Serbian secret police, Jovica Stanisic, and Ulemek's predecessor as commander of police commandos, Franko Simatovic, were briefly detained for questioning, radio B92 reported.
Earlier, the chief of the Belgrade police, Milan Obradovic, told reporters that it was definitely determined that the assassin used a snipere rifle to kill Djindjic.
The suspected shooter and two others, none of them identified, fled the building after Djindjic was shot, Obradovic said. The rear of the building has a view on the courtyard of the government seat where Djindjic was killed, some 60-70 metres away, across a park.
Mihajlovic, a deputy premier and interior minister, pledged drastic measures against the suspects. ``We will arrest all those responsible and liquidate anybody who resists the police,'' he warned.
Korac said earlier Thursday that another suspect in the group was on the payroll of the Serbian secret police.
Hours after Djindjic was killed Wednesday, Serbian authorities introduced a state of emergency, limiting civic rights. The detention of suspects was extended from 48 hours to 30 days, and their right to legal representation during questioning was scrapped.
Hundreds of people queued at the entrance to the main Serbian government building in Belgrade to sign a book of condolences for Djindjic. Top European Union officials were among those who signed as they sought to assure Serbs in Brussels' solidarity.
``We talked with your officials over the phone yesterday, but we wanted to be here physically... to offer our support for Djindjic's and your dream of joining Europe,'' said Javier Solana, the E.U foreign policy and security supremo.
After meeting the Serbian leadership, Chriss Patten, the high commissioner for foreign policy and security, said he felt the ``urge to personally express support and solidarity personally''.
The Serbian parliament held a brief session to honour the late premier. The chairperson also formally presented the details of the state of emergency, imposed hours after the assassination.
The acting Serbian president, Natasa Micic, declared a three-day mourning period starting Thursday. Local television channels have been broadcasting solemn programmes and news.
Sports events have been cancelled for the period of mourning. Djindjic will be laid to rest on Saturday, the national television RTS said

Serbia says 200 arrested after PM's killing -radio

BELGRADE, March 13 (Reuters) - Acting Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said on Thursday that police had arrested around 200 people in connection with the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, B92 radio reported.
Police and government officials had earlier said 40 people had been arrested but that the key suspects remained at large. The government has said a Belgrade-based criminal group was behind Wednesday's assassination and named 20 of its alleged leaders.
B92 said it had interviewed Covic, a deputy prime minister in Djindjic's government, and published a partial report on its web site. It said it would air the interview in full later on Thursday.
It said Covic had also confirmed media reports that police had brought in two Milosevic-era state security chiefs, Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic, for questioning.

Three people involved in Djindjic assassination: press

BELGRADE, March 12 (AFP) - At least three people carried out the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on Wednesday, Belgrade newspapers reported Thursday.
The assailants were "dressed in blue," and escaped the scene in three vehicles -- two BMWs and one Mercedes -- in an unknown direction, the leading newspapers, Politika, Glas, Vecernje Novosti, Blic, Nacional and Danas reported.
Police launched a massive search for the three vehicles, the reports said.
Djindjic, 50, was gunned down in the car park of a Serbian government building in Belgrade in an attack that immediately triggered fears that the region, still scarred by years of bloody conflict, could once again be destabilised.
He was shot by sniper fire from one or more attackers from a building some 200 meters (yards) away from the government's parking lot.
The daily Glas Javnosti, quoting a medical source from Belgrade emergency center, where Djindjic had been admitted after the shootings, said his wounds "were enormous."
The daily said the assailants had used high calibre bullets. Another daily, Nacional, reported that another gunman had also tried to shoot at Djindjic from a building, destroyed in a 1999 NATO bombing campaign, situated just next to the Serbian government premises.
A witness told AFP that the shots on Djindjic might have come from the building, once used by military.
"I was in front of the government building with a friend when I saw two vehicles getting into the parking lot," said the witness, who requested anonymity.
"We knew that Djindjic was in there, as we could see the crutches" the late prime minister had used in the past weeks after injuring left leg in a football match, said the witness, a 35-year old professor.
"Immediately afterwards, I heard two shots and I think they came from the destroyed building," the witness added.
Most of the papers, quoting unofficial sources, put the age of the attackers as between 20 and 30 years.
One of Djindjic's bodyguard was also injured in the attack, the papers said.
Serbian police have yet to issue an official statement on the assassination, while the press reported that two or three men had been arrested immediatelly after the shooting.

Police arrest hundreds, summon Milosevic's former security chiefs

By JOVANA GEC

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ Police hunting for the assassins who killed Serbia's prime minister detained two of Slobodan Milosevic's former senior security chiefs Thursday and rounded up more than 200 suspected mob figures.
In their first official statement since Zoran Djindjic was fatally shot by a sniper in downtown Belgrade on Wednesday, top police officials said the arrested suspects had links to an underworld group blamed for the assassination.
``I assure you we will arrest all responsible and liquidate anyone who resists arrest,'' said Dusan Mihajlovic, Serbia's interior minister.
Nebojsa Covic, the acting prime minister, said more than 200 people were detained. He confirmed that investigators also summoned former state security chief Jovica Stanisic and his deputy, Franko Simatovic, who was was seen being led from his Belgrade home by three hooded policemen with machine guns.
Before being ousted in late 1990s, Stanisic, then head of Serbia's secret service, and Simatovic, who formed a dreaded paramilitary unit known as the Unit For Special Operations, led Milosevic's paramilitary campaigns in Croatia and Bosnia.
Although officially sidelined, the two ranking security officials were believed to have maintained significant influence in the police and in mob circles even after the former Yugoslav president's ouster in 2000.
Serbian authorities introduced a nationwide state of emergency, giving police and the army a free hand in the assassination investigation by allowing for suspects to be arrested without a warrant and detained for up to 30 days without charges.
Djindjic made enemies for his staunchly pro-Western stands and for declaring war on organized crime, which flourished both under and after Milosevic.
Djindjic also outraged hardline nationalists for his determination to arrest war crimes suspects, including No. 2 fugitive Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb military commander who is believed to be hiding in Serbia.
The government has accused Zemun Clan _ a shadowy crime group including former paramilitaries loyal to Milosevic _ of masterminding the attack on Djindjic and several other unsolved murders.
The group is led by Milorad Lukovic, who succeeded Simatovic in 1997 as commander of the Unit for Special Operations. The group committed atrocities against civilians during the 1990s wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Lukovic and his associates also are suspected of being behind attacks on Milosevic's opponents during the former dictator's hardline rule. Those include the attempted murder of opposition leader Vuk Draskovic in October 1999 and the September 2000 abduction of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic, who has not been seen or heard from since.
The government said arrest warrants for Lukovic and other underworld bosses were supposed to be signed by Djindjic on the day of his assassination.
Belgrade police chief Milan Obradovic conceded Thursday that Lukovic and his key aides remained at large despite the large-scale police manhunt. ``An intensive search is under way on the whole territory of Serbia,'' he said.
The government said Thursday the chairmanship of the Cabinet would be rotated until parliament elects a new prime minister. Covic, one of five deputy prime ministers, was to take the helm initially.
Citizens and politicians, meanwhile, mourned Djindjic, who played a key role in ousting Milosevic from power in October 2000 and extraditing him to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, the following year.
Hundreds of Belgraders lined up in front of the government building where Djindjic was killed as he stepped out of his armored car, laying flowers and lighting candles. Hundreds of meters (yards) away, Djindjic's Democratic Party held a commemoration ceremony, pledging to continue their leader's reformist policies.
Obradovic said an initial police investigation showed there were three attackers who wore dark blue overalls with yellow labels. One of the men was armed with a sniper rifle and the other two had handguns, Obradovic said.
The three men fired at Djindjic through the open window of a room on the second floor of a nearby building, Obradovic said. After firing, the unidentified men fled the scene on foot, he added.
Police established checkpoints throughout the capital, and officers armed with assault rifles were searching cars and drivers. The army also pledged to help the investigation.
There were fears that the volatile Balkan country could plunge into violence in a possible power struggle for Djindjic's successor.
The party of former Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Djindjic's political foe, criticized the introduction of the state of emergency, calling it an ``extreme and potentially hazardous measure.'' It called for the formation of a transitional government.
Djindjic's death could jeopardize Serbia's cooperation with the West and block badly needed foreign investment. But Djindjic's finance minister, Bozidar Djelic, claimed Thursday that ``economic stability has not been jeopardized'' and that ``the reform will continue.''
Djindjic's funeral was scheduled for Saturday.

Brother of Milosevic rejects idea that revenge behind Serbian prime

MOSCOW (AP) _ The brother of Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday rejected the notion that supporters of the former Yugoslav president might have killed Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in revenge for his handover of Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal two years ago.
``I think that (vengeance) couldn't be the reason, because they could have killed him a long time ago over that, when he was a lot weaker than today,'' said Borislav Milosevic, a former Yugoslav ambassador to Moscow who continues to live in Russia.
He said revenge was an unlikely motive, suggesting other factors were at play.
``Concrete interests of specific circles or individuals were involved,'' he said.
Djindjic, a pro-Western leader who helped orchestrate Milosevic's handover to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague in 2001, was fatally wounded by two sniper bullets in downtown Belgrade on Wednesday.
Police in Belgrade on Thursday arrested dozens of suspects they said were linked with a clan led by Milorad Lukovic, a former paramilitary leader with close ties to Milosevic.
Gang bosses elude hunt for killers of Serbian PM

Top criminal's looming indictment for war crimes may have sealed Djindjic's fate

John Hooper in Belgrade

The Guardian

As the Serbian authorities were announcing yesterday that they had rounded up some 200 people in connection with the assassination of the prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, there was little sign of life at the green-roofed mansion on Silerova Street.
A cobbled lane running between one-storey cottages, interspersed by half-developed plots, Silerova Street lies at the heart of Zemun, the scruffy Belgrade district which is home to the organised crime syndicate blamed by the Serbian government for ordering the murder.
The house, set back from the lane, belongs to Dusan Spasojevic, a former police special operations commander who has been named by the government as one of the bosses of the "Zemun clan".
According to government officials, who earlier said that 40 arrests had been made, he and other leaders of the gang are at large.
His vast residence rears up, incongruously opulent, between the windowless back wall of a shopping mall and a plot littered with builder's rubble that was patrolled by a Rottweiler yesterday.
Neighbours said the building had at least three floors underground, which served, among other things, as the detention dungeons of an organisation which, in this part of Belgrade, operates as a state within a state.
The wife of a leader who split from the clan was among those who had been imprisoned there, neighbours claimed.
Surveillance cameras are attached to one side of the mansion. On the other, huge white screens have been erected on top of a wall that encircles the garden. They shut out the view, even from the top of the 11-storey communist-era tower blocks that stand nearby.
The Zemun clan has a fondness for nicknames that could have come from a 1930s gangster movie. Among members identified by the government are hoodlums known as "The Fool", "The Rat" and "The Cheat".
Dejan Milenkovic, who was arrested and released after an earlier suspected attack on the prime minister, is dubbed "Bugsy". And the man suspected of wielding overall command, Milorad Lukovic, another former commander of the "Red Berets" police special operations unit, or JSO, is known as "Legija" or Legionnaire.
The heavily muscled and extensively-tattooed Mr Lukovic once served in the French foreign legion.
According to the deputy prime minister, Zarko Korac, the Zemun clan is "not a normal criminal organisation ... it has its own people in the media, the police and judiciary".
It exemplifies, though it is by no means the sole case, the tangle of associations between politicians, gangsters, intelligence service officials and war criminals, both suspected and indicted, that is the dreadful legacy of the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's rule.
General Ljubodrag Stojadinovic, who was cashiered from Mr Milosevic's army and now writes a column on political and military affairs for the newspaper Politika, fears that these interacting elements could turn Serbia into Europe's Colombia.

Philosophy of death
"Their goal is to bring conservative forces back into power," he said. "That is not a realistic concept and they understand that. But they need a chaotic situation in which to survive. They are people who belong ideologically to the past and who survive on a philosophy of death."
He added: "I see Serbia in the future as a democratic country within a framework of western European values. But it will be a long road and [on Wednesday] we took several steps backwards."
Until last year, the Zemun clan's links extended to the heart of the Djindjic administration. That is no surprise; the clan is widely acknowledged to have played a leading role in putting the prime minister into office.
Milovan Brkic is a freelance journalist and spokesman for Serbia's independent police trade union. In 1996, two men called for him, identified themselves as intelligence officers and demanded that he accompany them for questioning. The day before he had published a controversial article on drug trafficking.
He was taken to a car repair workshop on the outskirts of Belgrade and tortured by a gang of 20 men, led by the suspected leader of the Zemun clan at the time.
"Such were the humiliations they inflicted on me, I still feel it would have been better if they had killed me", Mr Brkic said yesterday.
He added: "I saw almost all of them on [October 5, 2000, the day of the fall of the Milosevic dictatorship] around Mr Djindjic."
Whatever links existed between the late prime minister and the Zemun clan, it is clear that they had been strained to breaking point in recent months.
Last year, the government ordered a reorganisation that extracted the paramilitary Red Berets from the control of the intelligence service and put it under that of the interior ministry.
"This was the first significant event that caused panic in these groups", said Mr Djindjic's deputy, Zarko Korac.
Within the Zemun clan, moreover, a split was taking place. One faction was turning gradually towards legitimate business and its leader publicly denounced his former associates for being responsible for a string of politically related killings and other crimes.
The alleged boss of the other faction, Milorad Lukovic, appears to have opted for resistance rather than integration. Accused of a string of war crimes in the Kosovo conflict that could yet land him in the Hague, he may have had little choice, said Milovan Brkic.
"He realised that Djindjic would have to sacrifice him sooner or later."
There are indications that, by this week, it had become sooner. A newspaper which is regarded as close to the nationalist camp reported that an indictment was being drawn up at the war crimes tribunal that called for Mr Lukovic's detention.
Another newspaper, seen as leaning towards - and feeding off - sources close to Mr Lukovic, carried an even more remarkable exclusive.
"Djindjic target of sniper," it proclaimed on its front page.
But the story appeared, not in yesterday's edition, but in Wednesday's.
It was published several hours before the Serbian prime minister was fatally wounded by two shots from a sniper's high-velocity rifle.

Belgrade mourns assassinated PM

By Nick Hawton

BBC correspondent in Belgrade

The streets of Belgrade are as busy as ever. But now there is the presence of hundreds of extra police officers, keeping a watchful eye on all major buildings and road junctions.

On the road to the airport, every few hundred metres, there is a policeman or police car. Many of the officers are carrying assault rifles.
There is no curfew and shops and businesses are open as usual, but there is no mistaking that Belgrade, and Serbia, is under a state of emergency following the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
But the police presence did not stop a large queue forming to sign a book of condolence close to where the assassination took place. There was an air of depression and resignation among those waiting.
"I really loved him," said one lady in the queue. "We have lost a special person. I feel like I have lost a member of my family."
One man said Serbia had lost a great deal.
"A huge strength has been lost for the process of reform," he said. "I don't know if there are any other politicians who can replace Mr Djindjic."
Public sorrow
Throughout the city and throughout the country, flags have been lowered to half mast. State television has been playing classical music, interspersed with the latest news reports on the hunt for the killers.
Security has also been stepped up on Serbia's borders. All cars are being searched and identification papers checked. Suspicion and tension are written on the faces of the border guards.
At a news conference in Belgrade, a visibly shaken Interior Minister, Dusan Mihailovic, said the government would continue Mr Djindjic's reform programme.
"As a human being, I'll do everything to avenge this death," he said. "As a minister, I assure you, we will catch those responsible."
In the meantime, preparations are underway for Mr Djndjic's funeral. It will take place on Saturday in Belgrade's central cemetery. He will be buried in a special area reserved for prominent people from Serbian society.
Thousands of people are expected to attend. Many will want to show their appreciation for someone they believe had tried to drag Serbia out of the dark days and into a new future.
Late in the afternoon, it began to snow in Belgrade - unseasonable weather, but somehow reflecting the mood.

Organized Crime Still Strong in Serbia

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP)
Killing their way through the former Yugoslavia, gangs under the control of Slobodan Milosevic symbolized the ferocity of the Balkan wars. Now, more than a decade later, they are suspected of organizing the assassination of Serbia's prime minister.
After Milosevic was ousted in October 2000, many hoped that Serbia's new pro-Western government would uproot the gangs and destroy them. Instead, criminal enterprises are stronger than ever and although the former Yugoslav president is on trial for war crimes, many Serbs fear he is still running the show from his U.N. cell in the Netherlands.
On Thursday, more than 70 underworld figures were arrested in the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, including two of Milosevic's former senior secret service chiefs, Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic.
Djindjic, 50, was shot by two sniper bullets in Belgrade as he stepped out of his armored car on Wednesday the same day the government planned to issue warrants for the arrests of several top underworld figures, including Milorad Lukovic, a former paramilitary leader now accused of running a heroin smuggling ring. A main suspect in the assassination, he remains at large.
``This terrorist act is in fact an attempted coup and an open call for war by the Serbian underworld against the republic's democratic government,'' said Nebojsa Medojevic, a political analyst from neighboring Montenegro.
Underlining the seriousness of the threat posed by Lukovic's so-called Zemun Clan a band of 200 mobsters named after a Belgrade suburb the government imposed a state of emergency, curtailing some civil liberties and increasing the army's combat readiness.
``This network has everything: They have the assassins, the sources for the right information and the financial resources to carry out this awful crime,'' Deputy Prime Minister Zarko Korac said.
Many in Serbia believe Djindjic may have made a deadly alliance with Lukovic and his gang in his drive to unseat Milosevic.
Djindjic led the popular revolt that toppled Milosevic. At the time, he admitted luring Lukovic and other key mob figures into turning their backs on Milosevic.
Lukovic's crack paramilitary troops, known as the Unit for Special Operations, had spread fear among non-Serbs during campaigns in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.
But Lukovic sided with Djindjic during the 2000 uprising, and his forces did not intervene against demonstrators despite orders by Milosevic.
Djindjic later turned against Lukovic and other gangsters to declare open war on the rampant smuggling of contraband goods, cigarettes, drugs and women across the Balkans.
Unwilling to accept the possibility of arrest, Lukovic last month publicly threatened Djindjic and his government.
In an open letter to the media, Lukovic also suspected in several other murders and kidnappings accused Djindjic's government of being ``dangerously unpatriotic'' and warned the prime minister his days were numbered.
He also pledged his support to Serb war crimes suspects, although he did not name Milosevic.
Lawyer Srdja Popovic is among many who contend that Milosevic still exerts influence in Serbia.
Djindjic's assassination, Popovic said, was a collaboration ``of the nationalists, the mafia and the former regime.''
``This tragic assassination proves that dictators do not fall without bloodshed, and things (under Milosevic) were too horrible to have simply ended peacefully,'' he said.
Lukovic's name has frequently come up at Milosevic's war crimes trial. U.N. prosecutors, trying to prove that Milosevic exercised direct command over Lukovic and his unit, have shown footage of the former president visiting the paramilitaries and shaking hands with Lukovic in 1996.
The ID Belgrade weekly magazine, published a day before Djindjic was killed, carried a front page story headlined: ``Djindjic is the target The Hague Serbs paid for the murder,'' a reference to Milosevic and other Serb suspects in custody at The Hague.
``Sadly, Djindjic is the victim of an unfinished revolution,'' the analyst Medojevic said.
Milosevic's security services established close ties with warlords, underworld figures and war profiteers who were used as proxies to conduct and finance paramilitary operations.
Later, entire militia units including Lukovic's comprising criminals were inducted into the police force, turning Serbian security into the most violent and corrupt pillar of Milosevic's regime.
After his ouster, many top commanders closely linked with organized crime remained in power despite efforts by Djindjic and others to purge them. They forged tactical alliances with nationalist parties, which offered them protection in return for their loyalty.
``Milosevic's military-political-mafia complex contributed to the criminalization of society, destroyed the middle class, and plundered the country,'' the Council on Foreign Relations said in a recent report.
``Even now, the police are often involved in criminal activities, and judges and justice are too often for sale,'' it added.
Korac, the deputy prime minister, said Serbia's troublemakers ``started as heroin smugglers, narcotics dealers and the evil just grew.''
``They have a huge number of accomplices, and what is most devastating, they enjoy support by some public figures,'' he said.
Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco, a human rights lawyer, called Djindjic's assassination a wake-up call.
``It makes us wonder who is ruling the country,'' she said, ``and where the real power lies.''

Assassination in Serbia

IHT
In countries that lack institutions, individuals matter greatly. Slobodan Milosevic dragged Yugoslavia - now called Serbia and Montenegro - back to medieval times. Zoran Djindjic, prime minister of Serbia until his assassination on Wednesday, tried to propel it into modern Europe.

There are other reform-minded politicians in Serbia, but no one with Djindjic's shrewdness and force of vision. The power vacuum left by his death is more likely to be filled by the thugs associated with Milosevic, who are still powerful in the military, paramilitaries and secret police. If this happens, it is likely that Serbia's union with Montenegro will fail, and that the country will once again become a destabilizing force in the Balkans.

Djindjic was an intellectual and a pragmatist. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy in Germany, then bested his rivals to become the most powerful man in Serbia, where politics are not for the faint of heart.

He helped engineer the demise of Milosevic, and later courageously sent the dictator to the war crimes tribunal at The Hague. As prime minister, he taught his country to understand the demands and rewards of integrating Serbia into the modern world. His surrender of Milosevic and other wanted criminals allowed Yugoslavia to receive $1.2 billion in economic aid, a tradeoff that eventually won wide support with ordinary people.

Djindjic cooperated with The Hague tribunal in large part because the same people wanted for war crimes also happen to run Serbia's paramilitaries and underworld gangs. Today, they smuggle drugs and arms, and traffic in immigrants and women. Sending them to The Hague is the only way to loosen their grip on Serbia, and the West should not be tempted to relax conditions on aid to Serbia that require cooperation with the tribunal.

Djindjic may have been the victim of these influential mobsters. In recent months he had begun to arrest some leaders and dissolve brothels and car theft rings. He recently survived an assassination attempt when a criminal associated with a mobster tried to swerve into his car. Djindjic knew the risks but told friends he thought he could outsmart his enemies. He could not, and Serbia and the world are poorer for it.

Fears Serbian PM's murder could destabilize volatile Balkans

BELGRADE, March 13 (AFP) - World leaders recoiled in horror at the killing of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, fearing it could destabilize the volatile Balkans region.
US President George W. Bush expressed sorrow, while others urged Belgrade not to be deflected from the path of peace and democracy.
"History will remember Prime Minister Djindjic for his strong leadership during Serbia's successful struggle to end the dictatorship of Slobodan Milosevic," Bush said in a statement.
"Following the peaceful transition to a new, democratic government, Djindjic acted with strength and courage to transfer Milosevic to The Hague, where today he stands on trial for war crimes," he said.
Djindjic, 50, played a key role in the downfall of the former Yugoslav president Milosevic, now on trial in The Hague for war crimes committed during the 1990s Balkans conflict.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who met with Djindjic on numerous occasions, hailed the prime minister as "courageous" and "fearless."
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said the killing was a deplorable act of political violence.
"The secretary general is shocked and saddened," said a spokesman: "He deplores this act of political violence and trusts that the perpetrators will be brought to justice."
The president of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, said the assassination on Wednesday was an attack on a "symbol of democracy and reforms and European Serbia".
Russia said it was outraged. "We have received the news of the killing of the head of the Serbian government Zoran Djindjic in Belgrade with outrage," a foreign ministry statement said.
Russia has traditional cultural links Serbia, including the shared Orthodox Christian faith.
Greece in its capacity as current president of the European Union likewise condemned the crime and urged that Serbian leaders "undertake all necessary measures to ensure democratic principles and stability at this difficult moment."
In Vienna, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has played an important role in efforts toward stability in eastern Europe following the fall of communism, expressed shock.
"I expect that the progress made in recent years in moving the country closer to European and international organizations in the field of security and human rights will not be derailed by this cowardly act of violence," said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, currently holding the OSCE rotating presidency.
Officials in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia were quick to blame organized crime which has flourished in the chaotic post-war years.
The attack "obviously shows the strong presence of organized crime and terrorism not just in Serbia but probably in the entire region," said Mirko Sarovic, chairman of Bosnia's tripartite presidency.
The assassination was "a terrible wake-up call," said former Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica, once Djindjic's bitter rival, adding it "shows the very short distance we have travelled in our efforts to achieve real democracy in our society."
Croatian President Stipe Mesic said: "I hope this mindless act will not have any permanent negative effects on the stability of Serbia, that is Serbia and Montenegro (the former rump Yugoslavia), as well as on the situation in the region."
President Janez Drnovsek in neighbouring Slovenia said assassinations such as Djindjic's do "not belong in the modern democratic world".
NATO Secretary General George Robertson said the slaying showed anti-democratic forces were still alive in Serbia:
"The attack on Mr. Djindjic is an attack against all who want to break with the past. This is the desperate action by violent extremists who want to return to Milosevic authoritarianism."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Belgrade not to be swayed from the path of European integration, saying the "murder is a loss to all those, from whatever political party, who have made strenuous efforts to deliver a better future for Serbia."
In France, President Jacques Chirac hailed Djindjic as a man who "chose democracy and reforms to lead Serbia on the path to Europe," while German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder described the slain leader as "a source of hope for the people in his country."

Pivotal Alliance Frayed Before Serb's Death

Former Paramilitary Leader Sought in Assassination Had Become Suspicious of Prime Minister

By Michael Dobbs Washington Post

BELGRADE, March 13 -- In October 2000, shortly before orchestrating a successful uprising against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia's future prime minister met the man who would one day be accused of ordering his assassination.
At the time, Zoran Djindjic was a leather-jacketed Serbian dissident leading pro-democracy forces into the streets to accuse Milosevic of falsifying election results to remain in power. Milorad Lukovic was head of the Red Berets, a feared paramilitary group widely believed responsible for atrocities in Bosnia and the Serbian province of Kosovo.
By Djindjic's subsequent account of their meeting, Lukovic had come to tell him that the Red Berets were switching their allegiance from Milosevic to the pro-democracy parties leading the protests.
The alliance between the two men lasted after Djindjic became Serbian prime minister in January 2001 and Milosevic was arrested two months later. But Lukovic recently began to suspect Djindjic of planning to turn him over to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague as he had Milosevic.
On Wednesday, Djindjic was shot dead by snipers as he stepped out of his bulletproof car in the courtyard of the government building in downtown Belgrade. Today, Lukovic is the prime target in a nationwide hunt for Djindjic's killers.
The first encounter between Djindjic and Lukovic, which took place in the same building believed to have been used by the snipers, is key to understanding the events that culminated in the prime minister's assassination, Serbian political analysts say.
"Nowhere in the world is there such a symbiosis between criminals, the security services and the ruling establishment as here in Yugoslavia," said Marko Nicovic, a former police chief in Belgrade. "When the Democrats came to power here after the October revolution, they made a big mistake: They accepted the support of the criminal groups and corrupt policemen who were previously aligned with Milosevic."
The exuberant street uprising that toppled the last of Eastern Europe's one-party dictatorships, analysts say, was a mixture of a genuine popular revolution and an internal political coup, similar to the upheavals in neighboring Romania in December 1989.
Since they owed their power at least in part to the remnants of the old security apparatus that had turned against Milosevic, Djindjic and his colleagues found it difficult to move against their new-found allies.
The Red Berets under Lukovic played the lead role in arresting Milosevic in March 2001 at his Belgrade villa on Djindjic's instructions. In return, say Serbian political analysts, Djindjic shielded Lukovic from criticism by other members of the government.
The new government, however, was divided. Djindjic favored radical economic reforms and close cooperation with the West, including cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal. His colleague, Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist who succeeded Milosevic as president of Yugoslavia, wanted to proceed more cautiously.
Each leader had ties to different sections of the security services. To balance support for Kostunica from within the army, Djindjic relied on the Red Berets and the former secret police, known here as State Security. At a time when both men were busy consolidating power, neither was eager for a showdown with holdovers from the Milosevic era.
As commander of the Red Berets, Lukovic had close contacts with organized crime, both before and after the fall of Milosevic. But until fairly recently, Serbian government leaders defended Lukovic's reputation and refrained from any major crackdown against him or the Zemun gang, a criminal organization he reputedly has led since leaving the Red Berets in the summer of 2001. Several months ago, Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic, a close Djindjic ally, said the government had "no problems" with Lukovic, whom he depicted as a "law-abiding citizen."
Eventually, however, Lukovic's name began to began to crop up in war crimes proceedings against Milosevic. A pragmatic politician, Djindjic had adopted a policy of extraditing war crimes suspects to The Hague in return for Western financial assistance.
Lukovic may have concluded that he was next on the list, analysts here say. Rather than wait to be transferred to The Hague, he may have decided to strike first.
Since Djindjic's slaying, police have arrested dozens of low-level members of the Zemun gang, but they have not been able to find any of its ringleaders. Authorities say Lukovic and his closest associates have gone into hiding and are considered to be "fugitives from justice."
Analysts say that the shock of Djindjic's assassination could galvanize the government into taking action to break the nexus between organized crime and corrupt factions of the security services. "This could be the breaking point," said Predrag Simic, a former adviser to Kostunica. "Everybody understands that we have failed to deal successfully with the remnants of terror left over by the Milosevic regime."
At the same time, the government lacks political authority, particularly since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and its replacement by a new state of Serbia and Montenegro.
Kostunica, the most popular politician in the country, lost his job as Yugoslav president during the shakeup. None of Djindjic's allies in the government, including acting Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, has a broad following. Even though the government has declared a state of emergency and promised to continue the reforms initiated by Djindjic, many analysts here say it will have difficulty confronting organized crime without a strong popular mandate.

Gang members blow the whistle (Beta)

Three members of the notorious Zemun Gang of organised criminals have asked for protected witness status and are now giving statements to special investigators, the Serbian Government said this evening.
They are among eight arrested members of the two-hundred strong criminal corporation believed to have been involved in the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

"The statement's they have given so far prove this criminal gang's participation in high profile crimes, and are also a basis for shedding light on some other crimes and robberies," said the government in a statement.

The government said it would not release the names of 56 people arrested to date because of the ongoing investigation, but added that they were being held on consorting charges.

However, gang leaders were named last night as the government pointed the finger at the Zemun Gang for being behind not only the Djindjic assassination, but also other high profile murders and abductions in recent years.

Those leaders include Milorad "Legija" Lukovic, Dusan "Siptar" Spasojevic and Mile "The Godfather" Lukovic, who are at large and being actively sought by police.

"In association with the police departments of neighbouring countries, and the intelligence and criminal services of several European countries, we have received information confirming the involvement of this criminal gang and some other groups - mainly members of police security units during the Milosevic era and now associated with 'patriotic-nationalist' alliances - in carrying out the murder of the prime minister," said the government.

The investigation had also revealed evidence that the same group had been directly involved in the attempted assassination of Djindjic on February 21.

Solana and Patten fly in "to make dreams come true" (Beta)

Senior European Union diplomats Javier Solana and Chris Patten said in Belgrade this evening that they had come to Belgrade today to help show European solidarity with Serbia in the difficult period following the assassination of Zoran Djindjic yesterday.

"I wanted to express solidarity by being here with you and telling you that we will make the dreams of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and the citizens of Serbia come true," said Solana, adding that the dreams were of rapprochement with the European Union, joining the European family and economic development.
Patten told journalists that he brought a clear message that the European Union intended to help Serbia on the path ahead.

"A path of no return," he added.

Solana and Patten today held talks with acting president Natasa Micic, Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, Federal President Svetozar Marovic and Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic.