Serbia asks Spain to extradite Djindjic’s killer, others

Serbia has asked Spain to extradite one of the killers of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic, along with two other suspects arrested in February, officials said Thursday.

The extradition request concerns one of the last people convicted of Djindjic’s killing — Vladimir Milisavljevic, who arrested on February 9 along with two other members of the Serbian mafia, Luka Bojovic and Sinisa Petric, said Slobodan Homen of the Justice Ministry.

“We hope the request will be positively settled,” Homen said, adding that the ministry has sent “some 2,000 pages describing the crimes they are accused of.”

Milisavljevic, known in Serbia as Budala (“The Bastard”), was sentenced in absentia in 2007 to 35 years’ jail for his role, along with other members of Zemun clan, in the shooting of Djindjic in Belgrade in 2003.

After years on the run, Milisavljevic was arrested in a restaurant in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia, along with Zemun clan leader Luka Bojovic and two Serbian hitmen, police said.

Bojovic is wanted for 20 killings in Serbia, Spain and the Netherlands as well as for trafficking in people, drugs and arms, but is not wanted in connection with Djindjic’s killing.

One of the two hitmen arrested, Sinisa Petric, known as “Baku”, had escaped from a Serbian jail and was wanted for several murders, including that of a child.