Expatica news

Two held over Serbian PM’s assassination

8 December 2003

AMSTERDAM — Dutch police have arrested in Rotterdam two men on suspicion they were involved in the murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, but have since said that one of them was mistakenly identified.

Police arrested the two Yugoslavian men on Saturday. One of them is alleged to have selected the location for the sniper who killed Djindjic on 12 March. He is also accused of burying the gun after the assassination was carried out.

It was initially alleged that the men were brothers. They were identified as the 28-year-old S. K. and the 25-year-old N. K., both of whom have been staying for several months in the Netherlands.

But one of the men now appears to have been mistakenly identified as N. K. and the public prosecution claims he was in the possession of false identification papers.

Inquiries are being conducted into the identity of the man and Belgrade submitted an extradition request on Sunday for both detainees.

Djindjic was killed in Belgrade by a sniper as he was entering government buildings. Serbian authorities claim 44 people are involved in the murder and 12 suspects are still on the run.

The murder was a massive blow to Serbian democracy. Djindjic was the first democratically-elected leader in Serbia in 50 years and was the leader of the public uprising that toppled former Yugoslavian Prime Minister Slobodan Milosevic from power in 2000.

[© Novum Nieuws 2003]

Subject: Dutch news