By Tanja Djurevic
Belgrade, Serbia
"With the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, the constitutional order and safety of the republic have been endangered."
With these words Serbian government announced the state of emergency in Serbia, after Djindjic was shot dead March 12 in the early afternoon in capital Belgrade.
Citizens of White City on Danube have witnessed many a shocking event in the last decade, and in the last few years especially. A State of Emergency has been introduced four times. Tight security measures, police and media control to go with it are nothing new. But the murder of head of the government in broad daylight has left Belgraders stunned.
Djindjic was shot by two sniper bullets, in stomach and in the back, as he was going out on a side entrance of a government building. The shots echoed loudly in the very center of the city. Then the uproar started, with panic and confusion. Special police in flak jackets scoured the city, in pursuit of the assassin.
Officials of ruling Democratic opposition of Serbia (DOS) are one and all describing Djindjic's murder as a "big tragedy," a "vile attack on values of civilization," concluding that it is a "declaration of war on democracy and all democratic institutions in this Balkan country."
Even hard line political opponents of the pro-Western premier, such as Socialist party of Serbia and the Radical Party, condemned such a terminal, ultimately violent way of dealing with political adversaries.
What all the apocalyptic DOS statements about "dark forces working to undermine the achievements of young Serbian democracy" can't hide, is a simple, stark fear and panic among Djindjic's colleagues. Three questions are racing through their minds: who shot the Serbian premier, why exactly did they shoot him, and most importantly, who is next?
All those angry words of demonstrators on the streets of Belgrade in the last two years are no doubt ringing in their ears "Out with the traitors!" In the case of "Democrat number one" these words proved to be prophetic.
Viewed by the Western officials and public as a spearhead of pro-Western “reforms” in Serbia, Djindjic was the main counterpart to former president Slobodan Milosevic, as well as to his successor Vojislav Kostunica. Zoran Djindjic, however, enjoyed no sympathy of the Serbian public whatsoever. He was viewed as simply a traitor to the country's sovereignty and a puppet of Western, mainly German politicians.
Djindjic's pragmatic attitude in relations with the West was never looked upon with affection, his servility was rather seen as an insult to national dignity. Moreover, and especially in the last year, with the standard of living getting ever lower, and shock therapy setting in, the methods of "big Europe's friend" were considered crippling to ordinary Serbian people.
"Tragic as it is for a man to be killed in such a way, political violence never being an answer, Zoran Djindjic might have seen it coming" says Marko Bogdanovic. This Belgrade lawyer pragmatically claims that one can not be so openly servile to forces which bombed this country only three years ago, so ruthless in hunger for power, so oblivious to the needs and the standard of living of the entire population - and not get removed, one way or another.
"The example of Serbian premier will be set in the history, not of this country only, but the entire region" states Milovan Boskov, a farmer from central Serbia. "Who is able to deliver a head of a president on silver plate for a fistful of dollars, and the country's independence with it, will never have good fate in Serbia in the end" Boskov says. He alludes to Djindjic’s delivery of Slobodan Milosevic to the court in the Hague.
Djindjic's alleged connections with Belgrade mafia, and deals behind closed doors with some of the Hague’s indicted members of State Security units have been widely alluded to as well. Belgraders who claim to be informed say that it was precisely this connection that set path for the Premier's "canceling."
Being aware of general failure of providing a better life for Serbia as he promised, aware of his own personal rating in public, Djindjic however was oblivious to the extent this dislike can go. He pursued his drive for power until the very end.
"It is not Zoran Djindjic that general public will grieve for. But the very fact that such violence can occur on Belgrade streets, making difficult social and economic situation in this country worse than ever, future of Serbia - this is what concerns and frightens every citizen now" concludes for jW Milovan Rajakovic, sociologist from Belgrade.
The country appears to be without President, Prime Minister, Federal Authorities and any democratic legitimacy of the remaining rulers, states officially Vladimir Krsljanin of Socialist Party, Foreign Relations Assistant to President Milosevic, summing up current situation in Serbia.
posted March 14, 2003
