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Milosevic's Intelligence Chief Arrested Under Suspicion Of Murder
BELGRADE, Feb 25 (News Agencies) - Serbia's new reformist government has launched its strongest attack yet on former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's regime, arresting former Serbian secret police chief and Milosevic ally Rade Markovic.
Markovic, the highest-ranking official from the former regime to be arrested since Milosevic was overthrown in a popular revolt in October, is under investigation for "premeditated murder", Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic said late Saturday.
A leading parliamentarian suggested the arrest was just the beginning of a process that would culminate in Milosevic himself being brought to justice.
"I guarantee that no longer will anyone in the country be able to break the law and live an untroubled life supported by the political authorities," said Cedomir Jovanovic of the ruling reformist Serb Democratic Opposition (DOS).
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague has indicted the former president and four of his top allies for war crimes allegedly committed in the Kosovo conflict in 1998-99.
So far, Yugoslav officials, especially Milosevic's reformist successor Vojislav Kostunica, have been extremely reluctant to hand over the wanted men, arguing that the constitution forbids extradition of Yugoslav citizens.
But following increased international pressure, Belgrade has said it would change the law to allow for a transfer.
Batic refused to comment on the Milosevic situation but told reporters that Belgrade prosecutors had launched an inquiry into Markovic's potential connection with an October 1999 car crash which claimed the lives of four members of Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement.
The minister said that two other Serbian interior ministry employees were also the subject of the probe into the crash, which left Draskovic injured.
Batic said the investigation would look into whether the two "caused, with the aid of a truck, an accident killing four people and injuring Draskovic."
The minister told journalists that the inquiry could be finished "within one or two days" and that when completed, he and Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic "will make all of the details public."
"The fight against crime is one of the priorities of the Serbian government," Batic said. "We have started a fight without compromise and no one will be untouchable, no one will escape responsibility."
But Batic refused to specify when and where Markovic was arrested. B-92 radio reported earlier Saturday that Markovic had been arrested on Friday along with three others, who were not identified in the report.
"Why wasn't he arrested on October 6?" said Draskovic in response to news of Markovic's arrest, referring to the day after Milosevic fell from power.
"That raises the question of the responsibility of those who were protecting him," Draskovic told the private television channel BK.
Both Draskovic and members of his party maintain that the crash was an organized assassination attempt, and have repeatedly accused Markovic and former Belgrade police chief Branko Djuric of being behind the accident.
Djuric was arrested in a separate police operation, B-92 radio reported Saturday, quoting sources close to the Serbian government, but the arrest has yet to be confirmed by Serbian authorities.
Batic refused to answer questions as to whether Markovic's arrest was a sign that Milosevic himself - indicted for crimes against humanity by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague - would soon be arrested.
If convicted of premeditated murder, Markovic would face the death penalty.
Earlier on Saturday, police sources said Markovic's name "had been mentioned in connection with the investigation of the assassination of journalist Slavko Curuvija and the October 1999 collision."
Markovic resigned on January 25th, the same day that Djindjic and his reformist cabinet took office.
Goran Petrovic, a former member of the state security services who had been fired by Milosevic, replaced him.
Markovic, who had headed the SDB secret police since 1998, has been accused by various human rights groups and Milosevic opponents of being behind a series of political killings, including the 1999 murder of Curuvija and the kidnapping of prominent Yugoslav Ivan Stambolic last August.
Draskovic, himself a controversial figure in Yugoslav politics, is no stranger to danger.
In June last year, the former journalist and writer was shot and wounded in an attack in Montenegro.
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