Prime minister's alleged assassin tied to organized crime

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro -- The man arrested for allegedly assassinating Serbia's pro-Western prime minister ran an elite police unit tied to organized crime and former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, authorities said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, who succeeded Zoran Djindjic after his March 12 ambush slaying, identified the suspect as Zvezdan Jovanovic, a deputy commander of the Unit for Special Operations used by the former Yugoslav president during the 1990s wars in Bosnia and Croatia. Jovanovic was arrested Monday.

The Serbian government later ordered the unit disbanded, saying its 300 members must return their weapons, uniforms and insignia within 30 days.

Police also detained Sasa Pejakovic on suspicion of aiding Jovanovic, Zivkovic said.

The prime minister said police uncovered a German-made sniper rifle suspected of being the murder weapon used to assassinate Djindjic as he left an armored car in front of his downtown Belgrade headquarters. The weapon was found buried in the Serbian capital.

Later Tuesday, a police statement said tests performed by ballistics experts indicated that Jovanovic "undoubtedly" fired the bullet that killed Djindjic.

Jovanovic had ties to the Zemun Clan, an organized crime ring blamed by authorities for plotting and carrying out Djindjic's slaying, Zivkovic said.

"This is not the end of the investigation," he said. "We are happy with what has been done, but we won't be satisfied until all those involved in this murder are arrested and tried."

Milosevic's regime allowed crime figures to fight with notorious paramilitary units in the Balkan wars. After the conflicts, he gave them a free hand to join regular police forces linked to underworld figures running lucrative drug trafficking operations, authorities said.

Djindjic made enemies by declaring war on organized crime, which flourished in Serbia under Milosevic's rule. He also angered some Serbs by pledging to arrest war crimes suspects wanted by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, where Milosevic now is being tried.

Dusan Maricic, the current commander of the elite police unit -- considered the best-trained and best-armed in the republic -- was fired and detained, Zivkovic said.

A police official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that some of the unit's members "will be arrested, others dismissed or transferred to other police units."

Jovanovic, 37, first joined Serbia's dreaded paramilitary forces in 1991. At the time, the unit was commanded by Zeljko Raznatovic, known as Arkan, who was slain in a Belgrade hotel in January 2000.

Jovanovic became a unit commander in 1995. He became a specialist in covert operations and was among the unit's top instructors, authorities said.

Independent B-92 television showed video footage Tuesday of Milosevic shaking hands with Jovanovic in 1995 during a visit by the ex-president to the special unit. The same footage was screened last month at the tribunal as evidence of Milosevic's ties to the unit, which is accused of committing wartime atrocities.

The unit -- which has tanks, armored transport and a helicopter gunship in its armament -- staged a rebellion against Djindjic's government in November 2001, saying it no longer wanted to help arrest Serbian war crimes suspects.

The move was considered by government officials at the time as an aborted coup attempt.

Since Djindjic's assassination, authorities have imposed a state of emergency and launched a major hunt for leading crime figures and their associates in the judiciary, police and other state services. More than 1,000 suspects have been arrested.

But police said prime suspects remained at large, including Milorad Lukovic, the former top commander of the police unit and the alleged leader of the Zemun Clan believed to have masterminded the slaying.

The ferocity and scope of the authorities' crackdown drew a warning Tuesday from U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, which said in a letter to Zivkovic that certain restrictions imposed after the assassination "may not be justified under international law."