Djindjic Murder: Still Questions One Year On

On March 12, 2003, Zoran Djindjic's car arrived at a government office. Although accompanied by bodyguards, as the Serbian prime minister stepped out of his car and headed to the building, he crumpled to the ground.

A sniper's bullets, fired from a building on a nearby street, had hit him in the stomach and back. He died before arriving at the hospital.

One year on, there are still as many questions as answers surrounding the murder of the 50-year-old prime minister, who was seen by many, particularly in the West, as a courageous pro-Europe reformer who was tough on the country's powerful organized crime groups. Djindjic had sent Slobodan Milosevic, the ousted authoritarian president, to The Hague to face war crimes charges in 2001.

After his assassination, the government was quick to put the blame on the Serbian Mafia and those close to Milosevic.

The police launched a massive dragnet operation in the weeks following the murder, rounding up some 12,000 alleged criminals. But it was only half a year later that charges were brought against 13 of them. Of those, eight are still at large, including the suspect thought to have masterminded the operation, Milorad Lukovic, also know as Legija.

Chaotic trial

The trial of these men began in December at a new court specially created to try cases involving organized crime. It is being seen as a major test of the Serbian judiciary's independence after Milosevic's long rule. But the trial has been dogged by interruptions and at time, chaos.

Defence lawyers have protested perceived bias among the judges and walked out of the courtroom. Accusations of witch hunts and obstructions of justice have flown from several quarters. Zvezdan Jovanovic (photo, left) thought to have fired the shots, has refused to enter a plea.

Last week, Kujo Krijestorac, one of the main witnesses for the prosecution who reportedly saw the killer running from the scene after the shooting, was murdered. However, Rajko Danilovic, the lawyer for Djindjic's family, says the killing would not damage the prosecution's case.

"The defense has obtained nothing because the deposition (of Krijestorac) will be read before the tribunal. Perhaps they wanted to threaten the other winesses," he told reporters.

Theories abound

Police and prosecutors are sticking to their version of events: Organized crime and nationalists associated with Milosevic committed the murder. The indictment reads, they "created a conspiracy with the goal of executing criminal acts against the constitutional order and the security" of the country "with the goal of achieving profit and power."

But many in Serbia see other kinds of conspiracy, and new theories make their way through the Serbian press on an almost daily basis. Even a former interior minister, Dušan Mihajlovic told a newspaper that he could not rule out the possibility that foreign intelligence services had played a part. He said the American CIA had been active in Serbia.

"I don't think anyone in Serbia believes that the official story is the full story," journalist Ljiljana Smajlovic, who writes for a respected weekly, told the BBC.

Talk circulates that Djindjic himself had connections to organized crime, or that members of his own government were deeply involved in the corruption that led eventually to his being killed.

Legacy

Djindjic remains a popular figure with many western politicians, who see in him a leader intent on bringing his country back into the community of nations, and among liberal groups in Serbia.

"Djindjic was committed to a separation of business and politics, to the principle of efficiency and the opening up of Serbia to Europe. And he had a feeling for people's welfare," human rights activist Latinka Perovic told Deutsche Welle.

But official Serbia has a less generous view of the one-time prime minister. The conservative cabinet of Vojislav Kostunica, once an ally of Djinjic and later one of his fiercest critic, do not want to officially commemorate the one-year anniversary of his murder.