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95-735: The Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, and the sanctions which were imposed on Serbia as the main federal state of SFR Yugoslavia, severely hit the state economy. The 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia also much contributed to the failed economy. Hyperinflation, restrictions on fuel, electricity, water, cigarettes and lack of basic foodstuffs, high unemployment and general deterioration of society, led to many illegal activities, grey market and massive smuggling activities. Also, criminal and murder rates increased to their highest levels. The opposition parties in Serbia, most notably Serbian Renewal Movement and Democratic Party , have organised many massive protests during

190-566: A Greater Serbia )". He assumes that the Serbian policy changed from conservative–socialist at the beginning to xenophobic nationalist in the late 1980s and 1990s. In Serbia and Serb-dominated territories, violent confrontations occurred, particularly between nationalists and non-nationalists who criticized the Serbian government and the Serb political entities in Bosnia and Croatia. Serbs who publicly opposed

285-468: A genocide by several authors, and they also supported the instatement of a Serbian monarchy and the establishment of a Yugoslav federation. The Communist -led Yugoslav Partisans were able to appeal to all groups, including Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks, and also engaged in mass killings. In 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was established under Josip Broz Tito , who maintained

380-501: A highway attack between Pristina and Mitrovica, and arrested more than 100 Albanian militants. Adem Jashari, as one of the founders and leaders of the KLA, was convicted of terrorism in absentia by a Yugoslav court on 11 July 1997. Human Rights Watch subsequently described the trial, in which fourteen other Kosovo Albanians were also convicted, as "[failing] to conform to international standards". The NATO North Atlantic Council claimed

475-596: A lesser extent, Croatian populations in Bosnia-Hercegovina". A telegram sent to the White House on 8 February 1994 by U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, Peter W. Galbraith , stated that genocide was occurring. The telegram cited "constant and indiscriminate shelling and gunfire" of Sarajevo by Karadzic's Yugoslav People Army; the harassment of minority groups in Northern Bosnia "in an attempt to force them to leave"; and

570-525: A massive number of deaths as well as severe economic damage to the region. During the initial stages of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) sought to preserve the unity of the Yugoslav nation by eradicating all republic governments. However, it increasingly came under the influence of Slobodan Milošević , whose government invoked Serbian nationalism as an ideological replacement for

665-673: A multi-party system, Serbia, led by Milošević, demanded an even more centralized federation and Serbia's dominant role in it. At the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in January 1990, the Serbian -dominated assembly agreed to abolish the single-party system. However, Slobodan Milošević, the head of the Serbian Party branch ( League of Communists of Serbia ) used his influence to block and vote down all other proposals from

760-757: A special status of cooperative witness. In 2006, President of the Chamber in the trial, withdrew from the case, and the other Chamber member Nata Mesarović stepped in his place. The trial was marked with great political pressure and life threats to the Chamber members and cooperative witnesses. Also, several witnesses were murdered during the trial. On 23 May 2007, the Special Court found Simović and eleven other men - Milorad Ulemek , Zvezdan Jovanović , Dejan Milenković, Vladimir Milisavljević, Sretko Kalinić , Ninoslav Konstantinović, Milan Jurišić, Dušan Krsmanović, Željko Tojaga, Saša Pejaković and Branislav Bezarević - guilty for

855-556: A strongly authoritarian leadership that suppressed nationalism . After Tito's death in 1980, relations between the six republics of the federation deteriorated. Slovenia , Croatia and Kosovo desired greater autonomy within the Yugoslav confederation, while Serbia sought to strengthen federal authority. As it became clear that there was no solution that was agreeable to all parties, Slovenia and Croatia moved towards independence . Although tensions in Yugoslavia had been mounting since

950-470: A substantial Muslim minority. Clear ethnic conflict between the Yugoslav peoples only became prominent in the 20th century, beginning with tensions over the constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in the early 1920s and escalating into violence between Serbs and Croats in the late 1920s after the assassination of Croatian politician Stjepan Radić . This nation lasted from 1918 to 1941, when it

1045-565: A three-month moratorium on separation. The Federal Army completely withdrew from Slovenia by 26 October 1991. Fighting in Croatia had begun weeks prior to the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. The Croatian War of Independence began when Serbs in Croatia , who were opposed to Croatian independence , announced their secession from Croatia. In the 1990 parliamentary elections in Croatia, Franjo Tuđman became

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1140-487: A three-month moratorium was placed on the implementation of the decision that ended on 8 October. The armed incidents of early 1991 escalated into an all-out war during the summer, with fronts being formed around the areas of the breakaway SAO Krajina. The JNA had disarmed the Territorial Units of Slovenia and Croatia prior to the declaration of independence, at the behest of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević. This

1235-509: Is also said that the entire professional opus of Nikola Vrzić was dedicated to the propagation of the needs and interests of political and intelligence structures. Milan Veruović was dubbed as a person with criminal record who, in order to avoid the criminal proceedings, sided with the Democratic Opposition of Serbia against Slobodan Milošević in late 1990s. Srđan Ćešić of the weekly news magazine Vreme accused authors of relaunching

1330-461: The Bosniaks , who wanted to preserve the territorial integrity of the newly independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina , and the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb proto-state Republika Srpska and the self-proclaimed Croat Herzeg-Bosnia , which were led and supplied by Serbia and Croatia respectively, reportedly with a goal of the partition of Bosnia , which would leave only a small part of land for

1425-680: The Croatian and Slovene party delegates. This prompted the Croatian and Slovene delegations to walk out and thus the break-up of the party, a symbolic event representing the end of " brotherhood and unity ". The survey of Yugoslav citizens that was conducted in 1990 showed that ethnic animosity existed on a small scale. Compared to the results from 25 years before, there was a significant increase in ethnic distance among Serbs and Montenegrins toward Croats and Slovenes and vice versa. Upon Croatia and Slovenia's declarations of independence in 1991,

1520-678: The Socialist Republic of Serbia , Kosovo's autonomy suffered and so the region was faced with state-organized oppression: from the early 1990s, Albanian language radio and television were restricted and newspapers shut down. Kosovar Albanians were fired in large numbers from public enterprises and institutions, including banks, hospitals, the post office and schools. In June 1991, the University of Priština assembly and several faculty councils were dissolved and replaced by Serbs. Kosovar Albanian teachers were prevented from entering school premises for

1615-592: The foreign minister of Sweden and the head of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs . The current Minister for Foreign Affairs is Maria Malmer Stenergard of the Moderate Party . The office was instituted in 1809 as a result of the constitutional Instrument of Government promulgated in the same year. Until 1876 the office was called Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Swedish : statsminister för utrikes ärendena , commonly known as utrikesstatsminister ), similar to

1710-456: The premeditated murder of Zoran Đinđić. Many of them were sentenced to 40 years – maximum sentence in Serbia. However, no evidences for the political background were found. In April 2008, Carla Del Ponte , former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations international criminal law tribunals, published a book The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals , in which she stated that Đinđić cooperated with

1805-462: The "fiction" based conspiracy theories of the third bullet, refuted in court; and other bold negative accusations on authors credibility, including the alleged changeable testimonies of Veruović he gave about the third bullet following the assassination. The authors reacted to his writings in Vreme , saying that he is deceiving the readers by making many falsities based on unfounded accusations without reading

1900-435: The 1990s. On 5 October 2000, Yugoslav president Milošević was overthrown in a massive protest on presidential results. Serbian elite police unit JSO , operated under the command of State Security Service during the 1990s, and its leader at the time Milorad Ulemek had a major role in the overthrow of Milošević, to whom the unit was loyal in the past and executed many operations for him; some, including Vuk Drašković dubbed

1995-509: The 1992 referendum on independence. They failed to persuade people not to vote, and instead the intimidating atmosphere combined with a Serb boycott of the vote resulted in a resounding 99% vote in support for independence. On 19 June 1992, the war in Bosnia broke out, though the Siege of Sarajevo had already begun in April after Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence. The conflict, typified by

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2090-460: The 2022 Ukraine war. The areas of "Sector East", unaffected by the Croatian military operations, came under UN administration ( UNTAES ), and were reintegrated to Croatia in 1998 under the terms of the Erdut Agreement . On 2 April 1992, a conflict engulfed Bosnia and Herzegovina as it also declared independence from rump Yugoslavia. The war was predominantly a territorial conflict between

2185-679: The Balkans 1941–1945 , the ethnically mixed region of Dalmatia held close and amicable relations between the Croats and Serbs who lived there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many early proponents of a united Yugoslavia came from this region, such as Ante Trumbić , a Croat from Dalmatia. However, by the time of the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, any hospitable relations between Croats and Serbs in Dalmatia had broken down, with Dalmatian Serbs fighting on

2280-668: The Bosniaks. On 18 December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 47/121 in which it condemned Serbian and Montenegrin forces for trying to acquire more territories by force. The Yugoslav armed forces had disintegrated into a largely Serb-dominated military force. The JNA opposed the Bosnian-majority led government's agenda for independence, and along with other armed nationalist Serb militant forces attempted to prevent Bosnian citizens from voting in

2375-639: The Chamber in the trial, gave interview in Newsweek Serbia in June 2015, and answered whether she had read the book. She said that she did and that she: "wondered how suddenly investigative journalist (Nikola Vrzić) appeared with all these ideas and suggestions". She also added that she believes that Milan Veruović was just listed as the co-author of the book and that the verdict shows her analyses on why she hasn't believed to his testimonies, saying that: "it's not easy when you say that you did not believe those who were

2470-612: The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina required the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska to recognize all "constituent peoples" as entitled to full equality throughout the nation. Similarly, Article X of the constitution declares that the rights and freedoms defined in Article II may not be altered. Features like these are common throughout the constitution in order to assuage feelings of mistrust between

2565-573: The Croatian Army and the combined Bosnian and Croat forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted an operation codenamed Operation Mistral in September 1995 to push back Bosnian Serb military gains. The advances on the ground along with NATO air strikes put pressure on the Bosnian Serbs to come to the negotiating table. Pressure was put on all sides to stick to the cease-fire and negotiate an end to

2660-448: The EU . The newly elected Yugoslav president Vojislav Koštunica , although ally of Đinđić, had much more conservative policies opposed to Đinđić's policies. Đinđić was seen as a pro-western politician and Koštunica as neutral, with aspirations to closer ties with Russia. Although many new laws in this period were adopted and the economy stabilised with the great help from the western countries,

2755-559: The Hague Tribunal unconditionally in accordance to international obligations of Serbia, even though he had great resistance in national political, intelligence and defence circles. Security officer Milan Veruović, personal bodyguard of Zoran Đinđić, who was also severely injured by the sniper shot, testified on the day of the assassination, in the Emergency Center intensive care room, that there were three shots fired instead of what

2850-485: The Hague Tribunal whom he "didn't want to hand over war archives and generals", he mentioned the revision of the Dayton Agreement questioning the independence of Republika Srpska if the issue of Kosovo and Metohija is not discussed (via UN Resolution 1244 ). In the last interview he gave on 6 March 2003, Đinđić expressed concern that his western allies "are not honest friends of Serbia and are not willing to discuss

2945-558: The JNA's advance into Slavonia. By the end of October, the town was almost completely devastated as a result of land shelling and air bombardment. The Siege of Dubrovnik started in October with the shelling of UNESCO World Heritage Site Dubrovnik , where the international press was criticised for focusing on the city's architectural heritage, instead of reporting the destruction of Vukovar in which many civilians were killed. On 18 November 1991,

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3040-464: The JNA. By mid-July 1991, the JNA moved an estimated 70,000 troops to Croatia. The fighting rapidly escalated, eventually spanning hundreds of square kilometers from western Slavonia through Banija to Dalmatia. Border regions faced direct attacks from forces within Serbia and Montenegro. In August 1991, the Battle of Vukovar began, where fierce fighting took place with around 1,800 Croat fighters blocking

3135-445: The KLA undertook a series of attacks against police stations and Yugoslav government employees, saying that the Yugoslav authorities had killed Albanian civilians as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign. On 22 April 1996, four attacks on Serbian security personnel were carried out almost simultaneously in several parts of Kosovo. In January 1997, Serbian security forces assassinated KLA commander Zahir Pajaziti and two other leaders in

3230-507: The KLA was "the main initiator of the violence" and that it had "launched what appears to be a deliberate campaign of provocation". Pursuing Jashari for the murder of a Serb policeman, the Serbian forces again attempted to assault the Jashari compound in Prekaz on 22 January 1998. Between 1991 and 1997, mostly in 1996–97, 39 persons were killed by the KLA. Attacks between 1996 and February 1998 led to

3325-469: The KLA. The KLA sought to destabilize the region, hoping the United States and NATO would intervene. Serbian patrols were ambushed and policemen were killed. It was only in the next year that the KLA organization took responsibility for these attacks. The KLA, originally composed of a few hundred Albanians, attacked several police stations and wounded many police officers in 1996–1997. In February 1996

3420-522: The Kosovo issue, but rather", he suspects: "under wraps working on its independence". After his death, his "self-proclaimed successors" completely turned his policy in favour of western interests; and all the threats to the Pax Americana were gone. Authors of the book said that the only motive for the publication of the book is the truth about the 12 March, what led to the assassination of Đinđić, and what are

3515-422: The Serbian government building where he was supposed to meet Foreign Minister of Sweden , Anna Lindh , and her colleague Jan O. Karlsson . The high-powered bullet with which he was shot penetrated his heart and killed him almost instantly. According to the official government statement, Đinđić was not conscious and did not have a pulse upon arriving at the emergency ward. His personal bodyguard , Milan Veruović,

3610-558: The Yugoslav Wars, such as " Greater Albania " (from Kosovo , idea abandoned following international diplomacy) and " Greater Croatia " (from parts of Herzegovina , abandoned in 1994 with the Washington Agreement ). Often described as one of Europe's deadliest armed conflicts since World War II , the Yugoslav Wars were marked by many war crimes , including genocide , crimes against humanity , ethnic cleansing , massacres , and mass wartime rape . The Bosnian genocide

3705-530: The Yugoslav federal government attempted to forcibly halt the impending breakup of the country , with Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Marković declaring that the secessions of Slovenia and Croatia were both illegal and contrary to the constitution of Yugoslavia, and he also expressed his support for the Yugoslav People's Army in order to secure the integral unity of Yugoslavia. The Slovenes (represented by Milan Kučan and Lojze Peterle ) and Croats argued that

3800-623: The Zemun Clan. On 21 February 2003, near the Limes Hall on the Belgrade–Zagreb highway, the assassination was attempted by the Zemun Clan members. Dejan Mileković Bagzi, a truck driver who had a goal to perform the traffic accident, while the other members had to kill the Prime Minister with the rocket throwers after the car incident. However, by mere coincidence and good response from driver of

3895-475: The act was not secession but disassociation ( Slovene : razdruževanje , Croatian : razdruživanje ) from Yugoslavia as the federation was originally established as a voluntary union of peoples. The Badinter Commission ruled in November 1991 that the act was not secession but a separation as provided for by the constitution of the second Yugoslavia. According to Stephen A. Hart, author of Partisans: War in

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3990-429: The assassination of Zoran Đinđić, seven years after final verdicts, Veruović and Vrzić have published the first edition of the book, on 5 September 2014. The book is based on the vast material, from court records and transcripts of the trial to police reports and public testimonies. The authors claim that just about anything is debatable in the official version of the assassination. They claim that: "the expertise on which

4085-707: The attacks that were coming from the UÇPMB. The insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia was an armed conflict in the northwestern part of the country which began when the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) militant group began attacking the security forces of the Republic of Macedonia at the end of January 2001, and ended with the Ohrid Agreement in August. The goal of the NLA

4180-514: The battle of Vukovar ended after the city ran out of ammunition. The Ovčara massacre occurred shortly after Vukovar's capture by the JNA. Meanwhile, control over central Croatia was seized by Croatian Serb forces in conjunction with the JNA Corps from Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the leadership of Ratko Mladić . In January 1992, the Vance Plan established UN controlled (UNPA) zones for Serbs in

4275-477: The book gained popularity in Serbia and was published in several editions, critics of the book were mixed. Almost all the individuals (including officials) who gave negative reviews of the book usually blatantly discredited the authors, also claiming that the Court already gave all the answers about the assassination. Several media houses, including B92 , Vreme and others reported pretty bold allegations, slandering

4370-517: The book; and called him to continue the debate with them based on arguments and facts, once he reads the book. Žarko Korać , then close associate of Đinđić, served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia from 2001 until 2004 and acted as a Prime Minister from 17–18 March 2003, gave an interview in Peščanik in October 2014 about the book, stating that it is a "bad book" with the aim to challenge

4465-443: The boss of Zemun Clan Dušan Spasojević . Milorad Ulemek, the prime suspect who allegedly organized the assassination, was on the run for more than a year, and surrendered in 2004. The Zoran Đinđić trial in newly formed Special Court for the organised crime, lasted until 2007 and was dubbed by some media as the most important trial of Serbian Justice in a century ( Serbian : sudski proces veka ). Four members of Zemun Clan received

4560-484: The communist leadership was divided along national lines. The representatives of Vojvodina , Kosovo and Montenegro were replaced with loyalists of the President of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević . Serbia secured four out of eight federal presidency votes and was able to heavily influence decision-making at the federal level, since all the other Yugoslav republics only had one vote. While Slovenia and Croatia wanted to allow

4655-463: The conflict in which the Yugoslav government requested KFOR support in suppressing UÇPMB attacks, since the government could only use lightly armed military forces as part of the Kumanovo Agreement, which created a buffer zone so the bulk of the Yugoslav armed forces could not enter. Yugoslav president Vojislav Koštunica warned that fresh fighting would erupt if KFOR units did not act to prevent

4750-599: The conflicts. According to the International Center for Transitional Justice , the Yugoslav Wars resulted in the deaths of 140,000 people, while the Humanitarian Law Center estimates at least 130,000 casualties. Over their decade-long duration, the conflicts resulted in major refugee and humanitarian crises. In 2006 the Central European free trade agreement ( CEFTA ) was expanded to include many of

4845-516: The consequences of the assassination for Serbia. In the book, authors are challenging the official version of the assassination of the Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. Authors claim that indictment (and later trial verdict) is not based on the physical evidences nor eyewitness testimonies, but constructed on unsustainable expertise and carefully built network of confessions and testimonies of cooperative witnesses, of which neither of

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4940-483: The consequences of the bloody 1990s remained in some form. The western countries pushed the Đinđić's government to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia . Their financial help was heavily conditioned on the degree of fulfilment of those demands. In 2002, one of the main tasks of the Đinđić's government was the suppression of the organised crime . Many new laws for

5035-479: The credibility of authors, also stating that the goal of their book was the "obstruction of judicial proceedings" and as extension of orchestrated media campaign directed against Đinđić's then close associates, while protecting the political inspirators of Đinđić's assassination. Nikola Vrzić was dubbed as a spokesman of the leader of Democratic Party of Serbia Vojislav Koštunica , who had opposite policies compared to Đinđić's policies even though they were allies. It

5130-469: The deaths of 10 policemen and 24 civilians. A NATO -facilitated ceasefire between the KLA and Yugoslav forces was signed on 15 October 1998, but both sides broke it two months later and fighting resumed. When the killing of 45 Kosovar Albanians in the Račak massacre was reported in January 1999, NATO decided that the conflict could only be settled by introducing a military peacekeeping force to forcibly restrain

5225-504: The different ethnic groups and maintain lasting stability. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States reported in April 1995 (three months before Srebrenica massacre ) that nearly 90 percent of all the atrocities in the Yugoslav wars up to that point had been perpetrated by Serb militants. Most of these atrocities occurred in Bosnia . After September 1990 when the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution had been unilaterally repealed by

5320-420: The early 1980s, events in 1990 proved to be decisive. In the midst of economic hardship and the fall of communism in eastern Europe in 1989, Yugoslavia was facing rising nationalism among its various ethnic groups. By the early 1990s, there was no effective authority at the federal level. The Federal Presidency consisted of the representatives of the six republics, two provinces and the Yugoslav People's Army, and

5415-568: The end of 1992, tensions between Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks rose and their collaboration fell apart. In January 1993, the two former allies engaged in open conflict, resulting in the Croat–Bosniak War . In 1994 the US brokered peace between Croatian forces and the Bosnian Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Washington Agreement . After the successful Flash and Storm operations,

5510-598: The end of these operations, Croatia had reclaimed all of its territory except the UNPA Sector East portion of Slavonia, bordering Serbia. During and after theses offensives, around 150,000–200,000 Serbs of the area formerly held by the ARSK were ethically cleansed and a variety of crimes were committed against some of the remaining civilians by Croatian forces. The Croatian Serbs became the largest refugee population in Europe prior to

5605-544: The escalation of the Yugoslav crisis, the JNA became heavily dominated by Serbs. According to the former commander of the fifth army in Zagreb Martin Špegelj , 50% of the command positions were previously held by Croats, while a few years later at the beginning of the war all key positions were held by Serbs. The first of the conflicts, known as the Ten-Day War, was initiated by the JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) on 26 June 1991 after

5700-436: The first President of Croatia . He promoted nationalist policies and had a primary goal of the establishment of an independent Croatia. The new government proposed constitutional changes , reinstated the traditional Croatian flag and coat of arms , and removed the term "Socialist" from the title of the republic. The new Croatian government implemented policies that were openly nationalistic and anti-Serbian in nature, such as

5795-460: The first armed clashes between Serb paramilitaries and Croatian police occurred in the Battle of Borovo Selo . On 19 May an independence referendum was held, which was largely boycotted by Croatian Serbs , and the majority voted in favour of the independence of Croatia. Croatia declared independence and dissolved its association with Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. Due to the Brioni Agreement ,

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5890-535: The first to the Prime Minister and cared about his life". Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related ethnic conflicts , wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia). The conflicts both led up to and resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia , which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching

5985-406: The growing Serbian insurgency, while many government employees, mostly police where commanding positions were mainly held by Serbs, lost their jobs. The new Croatian constitution was ratified in December 1990, and the Serb National Council formed SAO Krajina , a self-proclaimed Serbian autonomous region. Ethnic tensions rose, fueled by propaganda in both Croatia and Serbia. On 2 May 1991, one of

6080-412: The military protection of the Kosovo Force (KFOR). The 15-month war had left thousands of civilians killed on both sides and over a million displaced. The Insurgency in the Preševo Valley was an armed conflict between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and ethnic-Albanian insurgents of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB), beginning in June 1999. There were instances during

6175-405: The motorcade, the car accident was avoided. Milenković was arrested, but unfortunately, the plan to assassinate the Prime Minister was not proven and he was released days after. Later turned out that the police had collected the evidences of a planned assassination, but someone covered it up. On 12 March 2003, at 12:25 Central European Time , Đinđić was fatally wounded by a gunshot while entering

6270-489: The nationalist political climate during the Yugoslav wars were reportedly harassed, threatened, or killed. However, following Milošević's rise to power and the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, numerous anti-war movements developed in Serbia. Protests were held against the actions of the Yugoslav People's Army, while protesters demanded the referendum on a declaration of war and disruption of military conscription , resulting in numerous desertions and emigrations. With

6365-410: The new school year beginning in September 1991, forcing students to study at home. In the 1990s, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was formed. They started carrying out attacks on Serb civilians. By the early 1990s, there were attacks on Serbian police forces and secret-service officials in retaliation for the abuse and murder of Albanian civilians. A Serbian policeman was killed in 1995, allegedly by

6460-410: The office of Prime Minister for Justice ( Swedish : justitiestatsminister ). The Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs initially served as head of the Cabinet of Foreign Mail Exchange at the Royal Office . Following the ministry reform in 1840, the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs became head of the newly instituted Ministry for Foreign Affairs . In 1876 the office proper of Prime Minister of Sweden

6555-418: The official indictment, also blatantly discrediting both Vrzić and Veruović. However, apart from the author's claim that there was a third bullet involved, he hasn't discuss any other claim the authors have given in the book. He had a task following the assassination to make a report about the eventual gaps in the security of Zoran Đinđić, which remained a state secret to this day. Nata Mesarović, President of

6650-475: The official version is largely based on, is completely untenable, contrary to the laws of physics and the physical evidence and the testimony of witnesses. Many material proofs were not analysed." To discover the political background, authors returned to analysing Đinđić's political activities over a period of several months before his death. They stated that: "he had become a threat to the Pax Americana in these areas"; that could be seen in his relationship with

6745-416: The opposite direction, from No.6 Birčaninova Street" and that all 9 members of the personal security of Prime Minister, who were closest to the crime scene, heard three bullets fired, of which the first hit Đinđić, the second hit Veruović, and the third hit the door frame of the government building entrance. That was the first time he came publicly with the statement of the third bullet. Eleven years following

6840-618: The organised crime were adopted, including the foundation of the Special Court for the organised crime. Many parallel structures in the country, including the Belgrade-based criminal gangs, most notably the Zemun Clan saw the great threat in government actions. Zemun Clan headquarters in Belgrade's Schiller Street, many saw as the parallel centre of the power in the country. Also, leaders of the mentioned elite police unit JSO had their connections to

6935-579: The peacekeepers by force, using this refusal to justify the bombings. The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia followed, an intervention against Serbian forces with a mainly bombing campaign, under the command of General Wesley Clark . Hostilities ended 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 months later with the Kumanovo Agreement . Kosovo was placed under the governmental control of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo and

7030-409: The previous Yugoslav republics. In order to show that despite the political conflicts economic cooperation was still possible. CEFTA went into full effect by the end of 2007. The Yugoslav Wars have alternatively been referred to as: The state of Yugoslavia was created in the aftermath of World War I , and its population was mostly composed of South Slavic Christians , though the nation also had

7125-596: The removal of the Serbian Cyrillic script from correspondence in public offices. In an attempt to counter changes made to the constitution, local Serb politicians organized a referendum on "sovereignty and autonomy of Serbian people in Croatia" on 17 August 1990. Their boycott escalated into an insurrection in areas populated by ethnic Serbs, mostly around Knin, known as the Log Revolution . Local police in Knin sided with

7220-476: The separation of Slovenia from the federation on 25 June 1991. Initially, the federal government ordered the Yugoslav People's Army to secure border crossings in Slovenia. Slovenian police and Slovenian Territorial Defence blockaded barracks and roads, leading to stand-offs and limited skirmishes around the republic. After several dozen casualties, the limited conflict was stopped through negotiation at Brioni on 7 July 1991, when Slovenia and Croatia agreed to

7315-442: The side of the self-declared proto-state Republic of Serbian Krajina . Even though the policies throughout the entire socialist period of Yugoslavia seemed to have been the same (namely that all Serbs should live in one state), political scientist Dejan Guzina argues that "different contexts in each of the subperiods of socialist Serbia and Yugoslavia yielded entirely different results (e.g., in favour of Yugoslavia, or in favour of

7410-494: The six entities known as republics that had previously constituted Yugoslavia: Slovenia , Croatia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Montenegro , Serbia , and Macedonia (now called North Macedonia ). SFR Yugoslavia's constituent republics declared independence due to unresolved tensions between ethnic minorities in the new countries, which fueled the wars. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of new states, they resulted in

7505-402: The term "ethnic cleansing" itself a euphemism for genocide denial created by Slobodan Milošević and Serbian propagandists. In its report published on 1 January 1993, Helsinki Watch was one of the first civil rights organisations that warned that "the extent of the violence and its selective nature along ethnic and religious lines suggest crimes of genocidal character against Muslim and, to

7600-585: The territory which was claimed by the Serbian rebels as the self-proclaimed proto-state Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) and brought an end to major military operations, but sporadic artillery attacks on Croatian cities and occasional intrusions into UNPA zones by Croatian forces continued until 1995. The majority of Croatian population in RSK suffered heavily, fleeing or evicted with numerous killings, leading to ethnic cleansing . The fighting in Croatia ended in mid-1995, after Operation Flash and Operation Storm . At

7695-534: The time) and other associates. The authors also indicate the motives for the political assassination in form of questions: Part One of the book looks at the events which occurred on 12 March 2003 (on day of the assassination), and events which followed. Part Two examines the events which preceded and lead to the assassination in wider context. It also examines ubiquitous traces of involvement of foreign intelligence services, concretely Britain's MI6 and American Central Intelligence Agency . It has seven subparts: While

7790-478: The two does not fit with undeniable facts. The authors also accused several Đinđić's then close associates in covering up the traces of their connections with the Zemun Clan , and involvement in the assassination, most notably Vladimir Beba Popović (served as Secretary of the Communications Bureau at the time), Čedomir Jovanović (served as a member of parliament and vice president of Democratic Party at

7885-501: The two sides. Yugoslavia refused to sign the Rambouillet Accords , which among other things called for 30,000 NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo; an unhindered right of passage for NATO troops on Yugoslav territory; immunity for NATO and its agents to Yugoslav law; and the right to use local roads, ports, railways, and airports without payment and requisition public facilities for its use free of cost. NATO then prepared to install

7980-566: The unit as "Milošević's squadrons of death" (see Ibar Highway assassination attempt ). Following the transitional government, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia secured the supermajority in December 2000 parliamentary elections . On 25 January 2001, Zoran Đinđić formed the cabinet and became the Prime Minister of Serbia . The main goal of the Đinđić's government was to reform the country exhausted of 1990s wars and to work towards joining

8075-463: The use of detainees "to do dangerous work on the front lines" as evidence that genocide was being committed. In 2005, the United States Congress passed a resolution declaring that "the Serbian policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing meet the terms defining genocide". Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden) The Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Swedish : utrikesminister ) is

8170-592: The war in Bosnia. The war ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement on 14 December 1995, with the formation of Republika Srpska as an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Along with ending the war, the Dayton Agreement also established the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The constitution is consociational in nature and describes Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs as "constituent peoples," giving each ethnic group far reaching veto powers in government. In 2000,

8265-508: The warring factions. In 2012, Chile convicted nine people, including two retired generals, for their part in arms sales. It is widely believed that mass murders against Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina escalated into genocide. On 18 December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 47/121 condemning "aggressive acts by the Serbian and Montenegrin forces to acquire more territories by force" and called such ethnic cleansing "a form of genocide ". Genocide scholars consider

8360-543: The weakening communist system . As a result, the JNA began to lose Slovenes , Croats , Kosovar Albanians , Bosniaks , and Macedonians , and effectively became a fighting force of only Serbs and Montenegrins . According to a 1994 report by the United Nations (UN), the Serb side did not aim to restore Yugoslavia; instead, it aimed to create a " Greater Serbia " from parts of Croatia and Bosnia . Other irredentist movements have also been brought into connection with

8455-752: The years-long Sarajevo siege and the Srebrenica genocide , was by far the bloodiest and most widely covered of the Yugoslav wars. The Bosnian Serb faction led by ultra-nationalist Radovan Karadžić promised independence for all Serb areas of Bosnia from the majority-Bosniak government of Bosnia. To link the disjointed parts of territories populated by Serbs and areas claimed by Serbs, Karadžić pursued an agenda of systematic ethnic cleansing primarily against Bosnians through massacre and forced removal of Bosniak populations. Prijedor ethnic cleansing , Višegrad massacres , Foča ethnic cleansing , Doboj massacre , Zvornik massacre , siege of Goražde and others were reported. At

8550-547: Was invaded by the Axis powers during World War II, which provided support to the Croatian fascist Ustaše (founded in 1929), whose regime carried out the genocide of Serbs , Jews and Roma by executing people in concentration camps and committing other systematic and mass crimes inside its territory. The predominantly Serb Chetniks , a Yugoslav Royalist and Serbian nationalist movement and guerrilla force , committed mass crimes against Muslims and Croats that are considered

8645-486: Was also seriously wounded in the stomach by another shot, but eventually survived. According to the official verdict, member of JSO Zvezdan Jovanović , fatally shot Đinđić from the window of a building approximately 180 meters away, using a 7.62mm Heckler & Koch G3 rifle. Shortly after the assassination, state of emergency in Serbia was launched. In full-scale police operation Sabre , 11,665 people were detained in Serbia, many criminals have been killed, including

8740-507: Was believed - two shots. Four months later in July 2003, he was officially interrogated for the first time. On 21 October 2003, he gave interview in B92 radio's morning talk-show Kažiprst in which he said that: "(I) suspect (that) Đinđić was shot at by two snipers. I believe that the bullet which hit the prime minister could not, by the position of the body, have come from Admiral Geprat Street, but from

8835-506: Was greatly aggravated by an arms embargo, imposed by the UN on Yugoslavia. The JNA was ostensibly ideologically unitarian, but its officer corps was predominantly staffed by Serbs or Montenegrins (70 percent). As a result, the JNA opposed Croatian independence and sided with the Croatian Serb rebels. The Croatian Serb rebels were unaffected by the embargo because they were supported and supplied by

8930-473: Was the first European wartime event to be formally classified as genocidal in character since the military campaigns of Nazi Germany , and many of the key individuals who perpetrated it were subsequently charged with war crimes; the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the UN in The Hague, Netherlands , to prosecute all individuals who had committed war crimes during

9025-544: Was to give greater rights and autonomy to the country's Albanian minority, who made up 25.2% of the population of the Republic of Macedonia (54.7% in Tetovo). There were also claims that the group ultimately wished to see Albanian-majority areas secede from the country, although high-ranking NLA members have denied this. The United Nations Security Council had imposed an arms embargo in September 1991. Nevertheless, various states had been engaged in, or facilitated, arms sales to

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