Suspected Sniper in Dock at Serb PM Murder Trial
On the one hand, it's a simple political assassination trial. Look closer, though, and you'll understand that there is much more at stake here for Serbia and Montenegro.
BELGRADE (Reuters) - A former elite police officer accused of gunning down Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was led handcuffed into court Monday as the trial of 36 suspects in the killing and other mafia-style crimes started in Serbia.
Ex-deputy commander Zvezdan Jovanovic, 38, of the feared Red Berets paramilitary unit, showed little emotion as he sat grim-faced next to other defendants behind bullet proof glass in a specially built and high security Belgrade trial chamber.
Authorities blame the March 12 murder of the pro-Western leader, who helped oust Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 and angered nationalists by sending him to The Hague war crimes court, on gangster bosses linked to the Milosevic-era crack police unit.
Beyond being just another murder trial, what is on trial in Belgrade is the power of the rule of law in Serbia and Montenegro. If this fledgling democracy has any hope of ensuring that the rule of law can actually work, the process must start here. If Jovanovic' trial is not fair, impartial, and untainted by the influence of the Serbian mafia, I fear for the future of democratic Serbia.