Fourteen years since the murder of Ivan Stambolic

Today marks 14 years since the murder of Ivan Stambolić, the former president of the Presidency of Serbia. He was kidnapped on August 25, 2000 in Košutnjak.

He was kidnapped and then killed on Fruška Gora by members of the Special Operations Unit.

Five former members of the "red berets" as well as the then leaders of the DB, among others Milorad Ulemek Legija, Milorad Bracanović and Radomir Marković, were convicted for the murder of Stambolic.

The court found that the murder was ordered by the former president of Serbia and the FRY, Slobodan Milošević, due to the elimination of political opponents. According to the final verdict, Milošević ordered the State Security to kill Stambolic, who was kidnapped and killed by members of the Milorad Ulemek Legion's Special Operations Unit.

Stambolić was abducted on August 25, 2000, in Belgrade's Košutnjak Park during morning recreation, put into a white van and taken to Fruška Gora, where he was killed. This murder was solved during the Saber operation after the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, whose assassination was also organized by Ulemek. Nenad Šare, head of Ulemek's security, then showed the investigators the place on Fruška Gora where Stambolić's body was located - a lime pit into which JSO members threw the body after killing Stambolić.

The son of Ivan Stambolic, Veljko tells "Blic" that Milorad Ulemek Legija should serve a sentence of 40 years in prison, not only for the murder of his father, but also for numerous other crimes, including the murder of Prime Minister Djindjic.

"They killed my father on the birthday of his younger daughter Tijana. They did it in such a brutal way and on the orders of a man to whom my father was a mentor and friend. Milošević is coming to our house..." says Veljko Stambolić and adds:

The investigation showed that he ordered the murder of Stambolic: Milošević (Photo: Reuters)

"My father constantly dragged Milosevic behind him and brought him to the place where he began to destroy Yugoslavia. He also provided him with a position, from which he drove him out of politics and did what he did, brought the citizens and the state to the brink of survival. "My father used to talk about the murders in numerous interviews as far as Milošević's rule took him and thus exposed them," says the son of the murdered Ivan Stambolic.

Ivan Stambolić was born in 1936, he was educated in Ivanjica and Užice, he finished high school in Rakovica, and the Faculty of Law in Belgrade.

He worked at the "Cer" factory in Čačak, IMR in Rakovica and was the director of "Tehnogas", and then the president of the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce.

He was also a member of the Assembly of Serbia, president of the City Committee of Belgrade, president of the Executive Council of Serbia, member and president of the Central Committee of the Union of Communists of Serbia and president of the Presidency of Serbia.

The conflict between the once close associates of Milošević and Stambolic culminated in the Eighth Session of the Central Committee of the SKS in 1987, which marked the beginning of Milošević's political rise.

After leaving the political scene, Stambolić managed Jubmes Bank in Belgrade.

On August 25, 2000, Stambolić was kidnapped in Košutnjak, not far from the Golf restaurant. The police found the remains of Stambolic on March 27, 2003 as part of the "Saber" operation.

He was buried on April 8, 2003 at the Topčider cemetery with the highest state honors.

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