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.”

Milorad Ulemek “Legija”, commander of the now disbanded special police unit, received the maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Radomir Markovic, former state security head who helped the group plan and cover up the crime, got 15 years.

The five men who carried out the killing were sentenced to between 15 and 40 years each.

Another man convicted of being an accessory received a four-year sentence.

“Respecting the orders of Slobodan Milosevic, Ulemek ordered the murder of Stambolic and the attempt on Draskovic. Their aim was to gain profit and power,” Judge Dragoljub Albijanic said.

Milosevic, on trial for war crimes at the United Nations court in The Hague, has denied involvement in the crimes.

He refused to testify because domestic investigators would not promise to broadcast his testimony in full.

The last years of Milosevic’s 13-year rule were marked by several assassinations of public figures.

Mr Stambolic served as Serbia’s president in the former Yugoslav federation until he was ousted in 1987 by Milosevic, a former friend and protege.

His remains were found in 2003 during a crackdown on Milosevic-era paramilitaries and mafia bosses following the assassination of reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

Ulemek is also the prime suspect in that murder.