Milosevic Allies Linked to Serbia Assassination

From the International Herald Tribune:

Daniel Simpson, The New York Times

Members of a 'criminal clan' arrested

BELGRADE Serbian policemen demolished the house Thursday of the ringleader of a Belgrade underworld gang accused of assassinating the prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, who was trying to put them in jail.

In a scene reminiscent of the day special forces stormed then-President Slobodan Milosevic's mansion two years ago, masked police officers wielding machine guns burst into an ostentatious compound built by Dusan Spasojevic, a mafia godfather accused of dozens of unsolved murders and kidnappings. No one was at home.

Continued.

Outside the estate, which contained a three-story shopping mall and two houses with a swimming pool, a crowd of several hundred onlookers cheered when two large excavators arrived to rip into its buildings of glass and steel. Officials said the complex had been illegally constructed, although no explanation was given as to why this had been overlooked until now.

Today's operation, which included a cursory search of the premises, appeared to be an attempt to reassure people that the government would not yield to underworld networks allied with war criminals. Few were overly impressed. "It's great that they're pulling down this monstrosity," said Ivana Despic, a 29-year-old bank clerk, "but it hardly gives me any confidence they're going to catch these killers."

The police said they had arrested more suspects in addition to the 56 detained since Mr. Djindjic was shot on Wednesday, but declined to give further details. Among those already taken in for questioning are the former head of Mr. Milosevic's internal security network, Jovica Stanisic, and Franko Simatovic, who commanded paramilitary forces that swept through Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990's. "There is a link between crime, war criminals, profiteers and war veterans," said Nebojsa Covic, one of five deputy prime ministers who have taken over until Mr. Djindjic's Democratic Party chooses a new leader on Sunday, the day after he is buried.

Mr. Covic said international investigators had arrived to assist the Serbian police, but it was not clear whether this meant Mr. Stanisic was also being questioned by intelligence officials who cooperate with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. As the coordinator of many of the Serbian forces and militias active in the Balkan wars of the past decade, Mr. Stanisic is probably better informed than anyone else about Mr. Milosevic's own role and therefore a source of crucial evidence for the former Yugoslav president's genocide trial.

At a commemorative ceremony for Mr. Djindjic, who was instrumental in overthrowing Mr. Milosevic and sending him to The Hague, another deputy prime minister said it would be impossible to find a new leader with the same tenacity. "Courage was the basic characteristic of our late prime minister, and that courage changed Serbia," Zarko Korac said, blinking back tears. "He was the source of optimism for all of us." Senior politicians from across the Balkans and around the world have started to arrive in Belgrade for Mr. Djindjic's funeral. But one international official has been warned she will not be welcome.

Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the Hague tribunal, has angered many people here by demanding the handover of war crimes indictees without acknowledging the risk involved in a country where they still infest the security apparatus. Mr. Djindjic's murder has heightened her unpopularity. The foreign minister, Goran Svilanovic, who has repeatedly been accused by Ms. Del Ponte of promising to cooperate with the tribunal but failing to deliver, said he had called her and asked her to stay at home. "It will be her personal decision, but I have given my position, Mr. Svilanovic said. "I think that anything more would exceed the bounds of good taste."

http://www.iht.com/articles/89900.html

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