Several of Slobodan Milosevic's associates were to go on trial here yesterday on charges of killing a political rival of the ousted Yugoslav leader and attempting to assassinate another opponent.
The former Yugoslav president will not personally appear before the Belgrade court because he is being tried himself for war crimes by the UN tribunal in the The Hague, Netherlands. But the Belgrade court proceedings may reveal that some of the brutality he used in wars against neighboring countries was also applied against opponents at home.
The indictment says that in 2000, facing presidential elections and alarmed over rising discontent with his rule, Milosevic asked his secret service chief, Rade Markovic, to physically eliminate two foes -- opposition leader Vuk Draskovic and Ivan Stambolic, his one-time ally.
In June 2000, Draskovic escaped with light injuries a gun attack by Milosevic's special police in a seaside resort in Montenegro. Stambolic, however, disappeared while jogging in a Belgrade park in August 2000, and his body was found last year, buried in a northern Serbia forest with gunshot wounds to his head.
Stambolic was Milosevic's mentor in the once dominant Communist party, but Milosevic later turned against him, seizing power on a wave of nationalism that tore the former Yugoslavia apart.
Stambolic then retired from politics but, in 2000, was rumored as a possible rival to Milosevic in the presidential race. That, many believe, prompted Milosevic to order him eliminated.
Besides Rade Markovic, the defendants in the upcoming trial include another secret service officer, Milorad Bracanovic, five paramilitary members who allegedly carried out the attacks, and former army chief General Nebojsa Pavkovic, who was indicted for allowing the use of military helicopters in the crimes.
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