Reuters AlertNet Lite - Serbia judge threatened before ruling on PM murder

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Serbia judge threatened before ruling on PM murder

10 May 2007 14:32:59 GMT
Source: Reuters

BELGRADE, May 10 (Reuters) - The presiding judge in the trial of a group of hardliners for the murder of Serb Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003 said on Thursday she had received threats, two weeks before a verdict is to be delivered.

Judge Nata Mesarovic said the threats were made in a two-page letter, signed by the unknown "Organisation for Serbs' Defense", and sent from Chicago which has a big Serb population.

It said she and other 'traitors' would "pay a high price".

"It said they would not kill me, but injure me in such way that I will be a freak for the rest of my life," Mesarovic told Blic daily.

It was the latest example of intimidation of Serbia's anti-mafia judges combating the paramilitary and organised crime gangs that sprang up in the 1990s under the late nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Last month, the wheel nuts on the car of judge Milan Ranic, a colleague of Mesarovic who is also involved in anti-mafia trials, were loosened, almost causing him to crash on a motorway.

Djindjic, a pro-Western politician who had sought to clean up Serbia after the overthrow of Milosevic in 2000, is believed to have been killed by members of the so-called Zemun Clan, a crime gang closely linked to far-right nationalists.

Twelve people in all have been indicted for his assassination in March 2003, the key suspect being Milorad "Legija" Ulemek, a former commander of the special police forces. Several of them are on the run.

Mesarovic is the lead judge in a panel of judges who are expected to hand down their decision on May 23.

Local media have cited other incidents of intimidation involving judges. Unknown people were reported to have cut the brakes of a car of one judge involved in a trial involving a high-profile paramilitary warlord. Another judge was forced off the road by a jeep full of men.

Prominent journalists have also been threatened.

In mid-April a hand-grenade exploded on the windowsill of the flat of journalist Dejan Anastasijevic, who had criticised a "lax" court ruling against members of the paramilitary group "Scorpions" for war crimes durings Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

Eight former members of the group have been detained by police over the incident.

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Last updated:Thu May 10 14:35:43 2007