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Court Convicts 12 of Serbian PM's Murder
Gangsters, secret police guilty of 2003 assassination
By Greg Atwan
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Posted May 23, 07 8:32 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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A Belgrade court convicted twelve men of the murder of Zoran Djindjic, the pro-Western PM of Serbia who was gunned down in 2003. The dozen defendants included alleged mobsters and members of the secret police; the two ringleaders will go away for 40 years after what Serbs called the "trial of the century," in which two witnesses were murdered.
Their co-conspirators will get between 8 and 35. Djindjic took power after the ouster of Slobodan Milosevic and was widely popular in Serbia, despite repeated attempts on his life by pro-Milosevic elements. The sniper who pulled the trigger wrote in a statement, "I liquidated Zoran Djindjic personally. I was not interested in the money. I did it to prevent extradition of our people to the Hague."