http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2843433.stm ============================ Serbian premier assassinated ============================ The Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, has been assassinated in the capital, Belgrade. He was shot in front of government offices at around 1300 (1200 gmt) on Wednesday. He was taken to hospital for emergency surgery but a government minister told the BBC's Serbian section that he had died of his wounds. This is a really bad day for the Balkans, and it's a really bad day for Serbia Dame Pauline Neville-Jones Unconfirmed Serbian media reports say that two people were arrested at the scene of the shooting. A police source told Reuters news agency that he had been hit twice by large-calibre sniper rifle bullets. The editor of the Fonet news agency, Zoran Sekulich, told BBC World television Mr Djindjic had been shot once in the stomach and once in the back. Immediately after the attack, police sealed off the city-centre location and halted traffic, searching cars and checking passengers. A former adviser to EU High Representative to Bosnia Carl Bildt, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, paid tribute to Mr Djindjic: "This is a really bad day for the Balkans, and it's a really bad day for Serbia. "Here was a man who more than any other single figure stood for the reform process, and ..it now throws all the cards in the air." Enemies On 21 February Mr Djindjic survived what he said was an assassination bid when a lorry swung into the path of his motorcade as he was travelling to Belgrade airport. He later dismissed the incident as a "futile effort" which could not stop democratic reforms. Correspondents say that Mr Djindjic, 50, made many enemies over his career as a pro-democracy campaigner and then as Serbia's prime minister. He was pivotal in arresting and handing Mr Milosevic over to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague in June 2001. The move opened the way to international aid to the then Yugoslavia. Zoran Djindjic Zoran Djindjic was born in Bosanski Samac, Bosnia, the son of a Yugoslav People's Army officer. CATALOGUE OF VIOLENCE March 2003: Serbian premier Zoran Djindjic shot dead Feb 2003: Djindjic says attempt made on his life Oct 2001: Ally of Serbian warlord Arkan, Slavko Mijovic, shot dead June 2000: Serb opposition leader Vuk Draskovic survives shooting May 2000: Milosevic ally Bosko Perosevic shot dead in Novi Sad May 2000: Goran Zugic, national security adviser to pro-West Montenegrin president, shot dead April 2000: Yugoslav airline chief shot dead in Belgrade March 2000: Serbian paramilitary leader Branislav Lainovic shot dead in Belgrade February 2000: Serb Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic shot dead in Belgrade January 2000: Arkan shot dead in Belgrade October 1999: Draskovic survives road accident "assassination attempt" He graduated from Belgrade University's philosophy faculty, but was jailed by Yugoslavia's Communist leader Josip Broz Tito in 1974 for trying to organise an independent students' group. After his release, he went to West Germany and earned a PhD in philosophy. Spurning the Communists, he returned to Belgrade in 1989 and co-founded the Democratic Party. After his party took 12% in elections in 1993 he held abortive talks with Mr Milosevic on forming a non-partisan government of experts. In 1996, Mr Djindjic formed the Zajedno (Together) reform bloc with Vuk Draskovic and other opponents of the Milosevic regime. Their street marches and rallies drew crowds numbering as many as 500,000 and continued for 88 days, despite assaults by the police. Mr Djindjic became Belgrade mayor, but Zajedno split up in mid-1997 and Mr Djindjic lost the mayoralty in September. After fleeing to Serbia's sister republic Montenegro during the Nato air strikes on Yugoslavia in 1999, Mr Djindjic returned to Belgrade to form DOS with 17 other parties. Their new street crusade for democracy culminated in the overthrow of Mr Milosevic after he refused to accept election defeat. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/2843433.stm Published: 2003/03/12 14:15:17 C BBC MMIII Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
