Court Convicts 12 of Serbian PM's Murder

Gangsters, secret police guilty of 2003 assassination
By Greg Atwan,  Newser Staff
Posted May 23, 2007 8:32 AM CDT
Court Convicts 12 of Serbian PM's Murder
'   (Associated Press)

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." (More Zoran Djindjic stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X