Former Serbian secret police guilty of murder

EIGHT secret policemen loyal to former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic were convicted yesterday of the murder of communist-era Serbian President Ivan Stambolic.

The killing took place in August 2000, shortly before Milosevic lost elections to reformers and was ousted in a popular uprising in October.

They were also found guilty of the attempted murder earlier that year of opposition leader Vuk Draskovic, now foreign minister. The indictment said Milosevic saw Stambolic and Draskovic as threats to his “future authority and political power.”