heartlvrs
03-28-2003, 09:07 PM
Body of ex-Serb president found
Ian Black, European editor
Saturday March 29, 2003
The Guardian
Slobodan Milosevic, the former leader of Yugoslavia, is to be questioned about the murder of a former president of Serbia, whose body was discovered yesterday, three years after he went missing, authorities in Belgrade announced.
Ivan Stambolic's body was found in a grave on a mountain in northern Serbia. He had been shot twice.
Four members of a special police unit loyal to Mr Milosevic have been arrested for the murder.
The discovery of the body came during the investigation into the assassination of the prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, earlier this month.
The interior minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, said Stambolic, Serbia's president during the late 1980s, had been missing since August 2000 after being abducted while jogging in a park in Belgrade.
Mr Milosevic is believed to have ordered his removal because of fears that Stambolic might run against him in the Yugoslav presidential elections in October that year.
Mr Milosevic lost that vote to Vojislav Kostunica and was toppled in a popular revolt after refusing to concede defeat. He is now in the Hague, standing trial on genocide charges at the UN war crimes tribunal.
The dead man's son, Veljko, 36, said: "I will finally be able to bury my father's body and light a candle at his grave. Now we can give him a decent funeral and mourn him properly.
"We knew from the outset who did it, it was so clear. Milosevic was afraid of my father as his most prominent political opponent. It is sad that Djindjic had to die for this murder to be solved," he claimed.
Mr Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic, is also to be questioned, but police said she had disappeared.
Late on Thursday, police shot two men described as leading suspects in the Djindjic murder. The two were leaders of an underworld group called the Zemun clan and were accused by police of masterminding the assassination.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/serbia/article/0,2479,925012,00.html
Ian Black, European editor
Saturday March 29, 2003
The Guardian
Slobodan Milosevic, the former leader of Yugoslavia, is to be questioned about the murder of a former president of Serbia, whose body was discovered yesterday, three years after he went missing, authorities in Belgrade announced.
Ivan Stambolic's body was found in a grave on a mountain in northern Serbia. He had been shot twice.
Four members of a special police unit loyal to Mr Milosevic have been arrested for the murder.
The discovery of the body came during the investigation into the assassination of the prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, earlier this month.
The interior minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, said Stambolic, Serbia's president during the late 1980s, had been missing since August 2000 after being abducted while jogging in a park in Belgrade.
Mr Milosevic is believed to have ordered his removal because of fears that Stambolic might run against him in the Yugoslav presidential elections in October that year.
Mr Milosevic lost that vote to Vojislav Kostunica and was toppled in a popular revolt after refusing to concede defeat. He is now in the Hague, standing trial on genocide charges at the UN war crimes tribunal.
The dead man's son, Veljko, 36, said: "I will finally be able to bury my father's body and light a candle at his grave. Now we can give him a decent funeral and mourn him properly.
"We knew from the outset who did it, it was so clear. Milosevic was afraid of my father as his most prominent political opponent. It is sad that Djindjic had to die for this murder to be solved," he claimed.
Mr Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic, is also to be questioned, but police said she had disappeared.
Late on Thursday, police shot two men described as leading suspects in the Djindjic murder. The two were leaders of an underworld group called the Zemun clan and were accused by police of masterminding the assassination.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/serbia/article/0,2479,925012,00.html