Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in 2000 but his legacy continues to poison Serb society. Under his regime organized crime flourished because it was run by top officials in the administration. After his fall these sinister networks survived. They have blighted Serbian society ever since. The undercurrent of violence and intimidation once fed on Serbian aggression in the Balkans. The most obvious example was Zeljko Raznatovic who earned notoriety as Arkan, an ultra-nationalist butcher. A former Milosevic hitman, Arkan became an apparently successful businessman. After he was gunned down in Belgrade’s Hyatt hotel a few months before his boss’ fall, three men including an ex-policeman were found guilty, but the mobsters behind the murder were never exposed.
Now we have two more murder trials. That of the men accused of assassinating reformist Serbian Premier Zoran Djindic a year ago has been going on two months. The prosecution of ten people accused of murdering Milosevic’s rival Ivan Stambolic just before the 2000 presidential elections — an act which led to the Serbian dictator’s fall — began yesterday.
The Stambolic suspects were caught after a crackdown on organized crime in the wake of the Djindic killing. At the time Arkan’s widow, Svetlana Raznatovic, a popular singer, was a suspect.
In both the present cases, the accused have links to the elite Red Beret unit, Milosevic’s private army. The poisonous web from the former dictator’s days spreads into the country’s intelligence services and armed forces. If the UN prosecutors are right that Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Vladko Mladic are hiding in Belgrade then it will be these elements that are sheltering them.
The overwhelming impression is that Serbia is still a country dominated by sinister forces where intimidation, bribery and hidden loyalties to the ruthless old guard play an important role. This is the way many ordinary decent Serbs see it. The euphoria that followed Milosevic’s ouster has been succeeded by a quiet despair. The evidence for this is that three times now voter turnout at presidential elections has been so low that the polls are invalid.
As long as Serbs do not believe that they are their own masters, and as long as Serb politicians allow their divisions to be exploited by shadowy elements of the former regime, they will continue in instability. That is why these two trials are so important. If the investigators have done their work properly and the prosecutions are successful, they can begin to squeeze out the poison in Serbia’s system. The international community could certainly do more to support the new Serbia, but finally the solution rests in Serb hands only. The antidote to the old Milosevic venom lies in a society that can confront the vipers head on. Catching Karadzic and Mladic will be the next big challenge.
