Kidnapped, taken to Fruska Gora, killed, thrown into limestone; 20 years since Stambolic murder

Printscreen: Youtube/Modern Serbia, mojnet.com

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the abduction and murder of former high-ranking political official Ivan Stambolic, for which State Security (DB) leaders have been convicted.

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The court determined that the murder of Stambolic was ordered by the former president of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, in order to eliminate political opponents. According to the final verdict, Milosevic ordered the State Security to kill Stambolic, and he was abducted and killed by members of the Special Operations Unit (JSO) commanded by Milorad Ulemek Legija.

Stambolic was killed a month before the elections held on September 24, 2000, which Milosevic lost and after which he lost power on October 5.

The organizers of Stambolic's murder, JSO commander Ulemek and his subordinate Branislav Bercek, who killed Stambolic with a shot to the back of the head, and shot at Draskovic as well, were sentenced to maximum sentences of 40 years in prison each.

Ten head of the DB Radomir Markovic was sentenced to 15 years in prison. JSO member Nenad Bujosevic was sentenced to 35 years in prison, and his colleagues Leonid Milivojevic and Dusan Maricic to 30 years in prison each. The influential JSO security officer and later the deputy head of the service, Milorad Bracanovic, was sentenced to two years in prison.

Stambolic was abducted on August 25, 2000, while his body was found on March 27, 2003. His assassination was resolved after the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, whose killing was also organized by Ulemek.

Milorad Ulemek Legija; Photo: Koca Sulejmanovic/AFP Profimedia

Nenad Sare, the former chief of Milorad Ulemek'd bodyguards, was the first to speak. During the police operation "Saber" carried out after Djindjic's murder, Sare revealed the details of the abduction and liquidation of Ivan Stambolic.

According to his testimony, the executors waited for Stambolic while he was jogging in Kosutnjak, and under the threat of weapons and showing official police IDs they forced him to get into a van. They took him to Fruska Gora, where he was killed and thrown into a pit filled with  limestone poweder, realls mondo.rs.

Ivan Stambolic was buried on April 8, 2003, with state and military honors at the Topcider Cemetery in Belgrade.

Stambolic was born on November 5, 1936, in the village of Brezova near Ivanjica. He was a high-ranking official of the former League of Communists of Serbia (SKS) and the president of the Presidency of Serbia during the former Yugoslavia era. At the 8th session of the SKS Central Committee in 1987, which marked the beginning of the political rise of  then party leader Slobodan Milosevic, a sharp clash between him and Ivan Stambolic's supporters occured.

Shortly after that session, Stambolic was forced to leave the position of the president of the Presidency of Serbia and to withdraw from public life.

(Telegraf.rs)