Djindjic witness murdered

2004-03-09 13:36

Belgrade - A witness to the assassination of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic has been shot dead in Belgrade before he could testify in court, a court official said on Tuesday.

Shop owner Kujo Krijestorac, 52, was killed last week by an unknown assailant, court spokesperson Kovacevic Tomic said.

Initial media reports said he was riddled with bullets as he sat in his car.

Thirteen men are on trial for the assassination of the reformist prime minister outside the Serbian government building on March 12 last year.

Indictment

According to the indictment, the accused were part of a mafia network that was planning a sustained campaign of violence and assassinations to overthrow the government.

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", the indictment says.

The reformist leader had stirred up a range of enemies with his decision to extradite former nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague in 2001, and his efforts to crack down on organised crime.

Suspected mafia boss Milorad Lukovic, an ex-chief of the Red Berets secret police unit and better known as Legija, is accused of masterminding the assassination along with another crime boss, Dusan Spasojevic.

Legija and six others are still at large, while Spasojevic was killed in a confrontation with police in Belgrade on March 27 2003.

Only six of the 13 men on trial for the killing are in police custody.

The person suspectd of being the trigger man, Zvezdan Jovanovic, a former Red Berets deputy commander, has been arrested but claims he is being framed by the government. He has refused to enter a plea.

- AFP