|
The idea then was regime change followed by meaningful democracy.
But while some progess has been made, the assassination earlier this year of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has demonstrated the grip the Serbian mafia has on the country.
Peter Morgan's been to Belgrade to investigate the crackdown against organised crime:
Friday night in Belgrade - Serbian Police are about to gatecrash a private party. They are looking for drugs and guns - the hard currency of Serbia’s Mafia economy. The gatecrashers are heavily armed - and not welcome.
It’s all part of a tough new approach to organised crime, one of the nastiest legacies of the Milosevic era. The police action is aimed at Mafia bosses who grew rich on the battlefields of Croatia and Bosnia. In recent years they've turned on each other.
Amid the murders and massacres - other, darker crimes came to light. A badly decayed body is all that remains of one of Slobodan Milosevic's oldest friends, Ivan Stambolic- a former Yugoslav President. Mafia killers kept him waiting at the graveside while they dug a bigger hole - and then shot him in the head. In March this year, the government decided to act.
Vladan Batic, Minister of Justice:
"Every state has its Mafia, the problem here though is that the Mafia wanted their own state. We could not allow Serbia to become a kind of European Columbia. The Gordian knot had to be cut."
But the gangsters struck first. Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic - the man everyone hoped would transform Serbia - was shot dead killing the hopes of millions of Serbs and of western governments. Mourners flooded the streets of Belgrade to remember their fallen leader - a man who’d promised to beat the Mafia and send its leaders to the Hague on war crimes charges.
All the signs suggest that Djindjic’s murder - on Wednesday March 12th - was an inside job. As the Prime Minister drove towards Parliament, three gunmen gained access to a nearby building.
Zoran Djindjic - on crutches after a football injury - was an easy target for the gunmen. His Head of Security was off work, and someone had turned off the CCTV cameras. As Djindjic stepped out of his car, a bullet pierced his heart - a symbol of how deeply the Mafia had penetrated Serbian life.
Dusan Mihajlovic, Minister of Interior Affairs:
"The gangsters found out what Djindjic was going to do - thanks to their spies in the police. So they pulled the trigger first. It was only a matter of days before we were going to act - but they were quicker than us. They thought that by murdering the Prime Minister they would provoke a coup d’etat and change the Government. And that way they would save themselves from being arrested."
Instead, Zoran Djindjic’s death provoked a showdown with organised crime, exposing their multi-million pound drug deals, their vast private armouries and their links to international crime.
An incredible 10,000 people were arrested - the biggest police operation Serbia has ever seen. More than 3,000 now face charges - many of them members of Serbia's most powerful gang, the Zemun clan. 45 people are accused of plotting to kill the prime minister, including several secret service agents and a top army officer.
One man who’s glad to see the gangsters behind bars is Miroslav Todorovic, a former judge who tried several Mafia cases. He made the mistake of denouncing the notorious Zemun Gang on national television.
The next day, he was abducted right outside Serbia’s Supreme Court and taken to the gang’s headquarters in West Belgrade. The house has been demolished, but Todorovic will never forget his encounter with the gang’s leader, Dusan Spasojevic. This is the first time he has spoken about his ordeal.
Miroslav Todorovic, Former Judge:
"I had to open my mouth for him to check it. As I did he pushed the gun into my mouth and said ‘good, good. With such a mouth and this weapon, you can’t miss."
Todorovic feared he would not leave the house alive. The gang leader took him down to this empty swimming pool and, at gun point, ordered him to strip and enter the pool.
Miroslav Todorovic, Former Judge:
"When a man experiences humiliation so big and horrible, many other things lose their importance. I’m over sixty and I was naked, at the mercy of a murderer. I'ts devastating."
Todorovic was released. Police shot dead his torturers two months ago when they raided a Zemun gang safe house, looking for Djindjic's killers. Serb authorities say the two men were resisting arrest.
And that’s because the Mafia have such a grip on Serb society. One of Serbia’s most popular singers - Ceca - is the widow of the indicted war criminal Arkan. Her music videos reflect the culture of guns and revenge killings. Ceca herself has not been spared, accused of tax fraud and possessing weapons.
Football too is caught in the Mafia's net. Six league presidents have been murdered. Ceca is President of FC Obilic, one of Serbia’s leading teams. The club’s under investigation for alleged money laundering. Obilic’s Acting President insists the Club and Ceca are innocent - the target of rival interests who want to take over their team.
Dragisa Binic, Obilic FC :
"She started a hunger strike because she feels that there’s a hidden agenda behind her arrest. We’ve begged her to take food. She’s refused. She told me: 'I expect them to send me to the Hague for the mistakes my husband Arkan made. If that's their aim, they'd better get a move on.'"
Few politicians can escape the long shadow of Belgrade’s gangs. - even Serbia’s most popular politician. Former Serb President Vojislav Kostunica has been on the backfoot since two of his advisers were accused of meeting Djindjic’s killers days before his murder. Kostunica says the government's pursuing a political vendetta against his advisers.
Vojislav Kostunica, President of Yugoslavia 2000-2003:
"I consider both of them to be political prisoners. They had nothing to do with the assassination of PM Djindjic. The government has given already some signs, proofs that it has intentions to use the state of emergency in order to get rid of its political rivals."
Such questions will now be decided by Serbia’s prosecutors and judges, here to discuss the legal fight against organised crime. It'll be a massive task not least because dozens of judges and prosecutors have been removed during the state of emergency. Serbia's justice minister is under pressure to get results. So he’s taken a leaf out of the Italian law book.
Vladan Batic, Minister of Justice:
"We are following the practises of different countries. First of all, Italy, which is the leading country in the fight against organised crime. They’ve got the special police, the special prosecutor, the special courts. And in a way we have incorporated the experience of the Italian judiciary into our own."
A former military court is being prepared for the Mafia trials - complete with bullet proof glass cages for the accused. Human rights campaigners say these massive trials - due to start in September - will only succeed if witnesses are properly protected - and that will cost money.
On the surface, Belgrade seems a lot more prosperous now than in the war years.. There are even hints that the former pariah state could join NATO and the EU. But before all that can happen, Serbia has to tackle the Mafia's main sources of income - smuggling, extortion and human trafficking.
Dusan Mihajlovic, Minister of Interior Affairs:
"I'm asking the British government and other European nations, including the United States and other developed countries to help our police, customs, judiciary system of this country so it can become a firm and safe barrier against organised crime.
Removing the Milosevic regime then hasn't solved all of Serbia's problems. In some ways, its made them worse. Unless the outside world offers more cash aid, the crime and corruption which has engulfed Belgrade could soon become this country's biggest export.
|
|
