The gangster bosses behind the assassination of a pro-Western Serbian prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, aimed to spread fear across the country and then take power, a senior prosecutor said Tuesday. The prosecutor, Milan Radovanovic, read out a 40-page indictment on the second day of the most high-profile trial in years in Belgrade. The man accused of being the mastermind behind the assassination, Milorad Lukovic, of the feared Red Berets paramilitary unit, remains at large. Mr. Radovanovic told the court that Mr. Lukovic, better known as Muggsy Legija, conspired with a powerful crime gang leader, who was later shot dead by the police, to kill Mr. Djindjic, the reformist prime minister, "in order to gain profit and power."
| No turbans involved, but the same basic idea... |
"By killing the prime minister and with other acts of violence, the members of the criminal gang wanted to jeopardize the security of Yugoslavia and instill a feeling of insecurity among the citizens," he said. Mr. Djindjic, who was killed March 12, had helped oust the former Yugoslav leader, Slobodan Milosevic, in 2000. |