Serbian former cop jailed

A former secret police commander accused of masterminding the murder of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic was sentenced Monday to 40 years jail for the assassination of a former president. Milorad Ulemek, 37, better known as Legija, was convicted for the 2000 murder of Ivan Stambolic, a popular ex-communist, under the orders of then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
He was also convicted for the attempted murder of then-opposition leader Vuk Draskovic, the current foreign minister, in the same year. Last month he received 15 years for an earlier attempt to murder Draskovic, in 1999.
"Ulemek is found guilty of creating a criminal enterprise on the orders of Slobodan Milosevic," Judge Dragoljub Albijanic told the high-security court as Ulemek looked on without emotion from behind a screen of bullet-proof glass.
His conviction is likely to boost prosecutors' hopes of pinning the Djindjic murder on Ulemek and his associates, while providing the first legally established link between Milosevic and underworld violence.
The Djindjic murder trial, which has already dragged on for more than a year, is due to resume in September. Djindjic was shot in March 2003 by an alleged mafia sniper in Belgrade. Milosevic will be tried for ordering Stambolic's assassination once his war crimes process is completed by the UN tribunal at The Hague. He has vehemently denied the charge.
Ulemek's co-accused, five fellow members of the so-called Red Berets secret police unit and another senior secret police officer, were sentenced to between four and 40 years for their roles in the crimes.
They were also ordered to pay back to the state the 50,000 euros (60,000 dollars) which Ulemek paid them to carry out Stambolic's murder.
The ex-chief of the secret police, Rade Markovic, received 15 years for failing to prevent or even report the assassination.
"As the chief of the secret police and the superior of Ulemek, he missed the opportunity to give a direct order to prevent the killing of Stambolic and afterwards he did not report that crime," Albijanic said.
Stambolic was president of the Balkan republic from 1986-87 and was rumoured to have been planning a political comeback against Milosevic in the 2000 election. He vanished while jogging only a month ahead of the election. His disappearance remained a mystery until his body was found in 2003 during a massive crackdown on organised crime following Djindjic's assassination.
Milosevic fell from power shortly after the 2000 election, having dominated Yugoslav politics throughout the war-ravaged 1990s. The following year he was extradited to the UN tribunal at The Hague where he remains on trial.
Ulemek, a heavily tattooed former commando and war veteran, is the most powerful underworld figure to face trial for a wave of political violence which gripped Serbia in the last years of Milosevic's rule.
Already well known for his exploits during the Bosnian and Kosovo wars, he later became the suspected head of the so-called Zemun mafia gang based in the Belgrade suburbs.