Assassin says Djindjic murder was to be first of many

The assassination of the Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, was the first of a series of planned killings aimed at overthrowing the government and bringing allies of Slobodan Milosevic back to power, one of Djindjic's killers said yesterday.

Zvezdan Jovanovic, who allegedly pulled the trigger, told investigators that more political killings were to follow, to cause chaos and panic among the population. Mr Jovanovic was a deputy commander of the notorious Special Operations Unit (JSO), the armed wing of Mr Milosevic's secret police, blamed for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

The JSO, also know as the Red Berets, was to step in to establish control and order, while the "patriotic forces" would return to power. A transitional government would prevent further co-operation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The alleged coup failed because the organisers did not expect such a fast and sweeping police crackdown, or the show of popular grief for Djindjic.

Mr Jovanovic said he was acting on the orders of Milorad Lukovic, also known as Legija, once a commander of JSO and the leader of the underworld gang the Zemun Clan, which has also been linked by the Serbian government to the killing. The police have described Mr Jovanovic as a "very brutal person" who showed no remorse for killing Djindjic.

The slain Serbian prime minister was labelled a traitor by nationalists and sympathisers of Mr Milosevic after he expedited the extradition of the former president to The Hague in 2001. He was also broadly criticised by a former Yugoslav president, Vojislav Kostunica, for hastening the extradition.

For the first time since the death of Djindjic, the investigation is now centring on links between Mr Kostunica's cabinet and Mr Lukovic. Mr Kostunica's security adviser, Rade Bulatovic, and a former chief of military intelligence, General Aco Tomic, have been questioned about a meeting they had with Mr Lukovic in December.

The contact came through Borislav Mikelic, a Croatian Serb and a war-time friend of Mr Lukovic. Mr Mikelic was arrested several days ago.

Mr Kostunica stepped down from power last month, when Yugoslavia became the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Djindjic and reform-oriented politicians in Serbia often criticised Mr Kostunica for delaying action against the remnants of Mr Milosevic's regime. In the meantime, Mr Kostunica became the most popular politician by courting nationalism and being reluctant to dismantle old power structures.

"Mr Kostunica cannot be absolved of the responsibility for the things he did not or could not do as President," the Serbian Vice-Prime Minister, Cedomir Jovanovic, said in an interview. "In some ways, he perfectly fitted into the system inherited from Milosevic."

Meanwhile, a former president allegedly killed on the orders of Mr Milosevic and his wife, Mira Markovic, was buried yesterday. Ivan Stambolic was buried with full state honours in a family crypt at the Topcider cemetery in Belgrade a few hundreds metres from where he was abducted while jogging on 25 August 2000. He was killed on the same day on a mountainside north of Belgrade. Stambolic had been removed as Serbian president by Mr Milosevic, who saw him as a rival, in 1987. He was buried next to his daughter Bojana, who died in a mysterious car crash the same year.

Stambolic's remains were not found until last month when his fate was revealed by JSO members arrested on suspicion of the Djindjic assassination. The JSO was dismantled after Djindjic was killed and its connections with organised crime were revealed.