Milošević ordered, Legion executed: 17 years since the murder of Ivan Stambolić

Tomorrow marks 17 years since the kidnapping and murder of the former president of the Serbian Presidency, Ivan Stambolić, for which the leaders of the State Security were legally convicted. The court found that the murder of Stambolic was ordered by the former president of Serbia and the FRY, Slobodan Milošević, in order to eliminate political opponents. According to the final verdict, Milošević ordered the State Security (DB) to kill Stambolic, and he was abducted and killed by members of the Special Operations Unit (JSO) of Milorad Ulemek Legija. Stambolić was killed a month before the elections held on 24 September 2000. years that Milosevic lost and after which 5. lost power in October of that year. A unique trial was conducted before the Special Court for the murder of Stambolić and the attempted murder of the president of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Drašković, on 15 June 2000 in Budva. The organizer of the murder of Stambolić, JSO commander Ulemek and his subordinate Branislav Berček, who killed Stambolić with shots to the back of the head and shot Drašković, were sentenced to the most severe sentences of 40 years in prison each. The head of DB at the time, Radomir Marković, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. JSO member Nenad Bujošević was sentenced to 35 years in prison, and his colleagues Leonid Milivojević and Dušan Maričić were sentenced to 30 years in prison each. Influential JSO security officer and later deputy chief of service Milorad Bracanović was sentenced to two years in prison. Stambolić was kidnapped on the 25th. August 2000 and his body was found on the 27th. March 2003 years. Stambolic's murder was solved after the murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, whose murder was also organized by Ulemek. The first to speak was Nenad Šare, the former head of Milorad Ulemek's bodyguard. Šare revealed the details of the abduction and liquidation of Ivan Stambolic during the "Sablja" police operation conducted after the murder of Đinđić. According to his testimony, the executioners waited for Stambolic while he was jogging recreationally in Košutnjak and, at gunpoint and by showing official police identification, forced him to get into the van. They took him to Fruška Gora, where he was killed and thrown into a pit with quicklime. Ivan Stambolić was buried on the 8 April 2003 with state and military honors at the Topčider Cemetery in Belgrade. In July 2004 near the "Golf" restaurant in Košutnjak, at the place where Ivan Stambolić was kidnapped, a memorial fountain was installed. A year later, a monument was erected on Zmajevac on Fruška Gora, at the place where Stambolić was killed. The family of Ivan Stambolić filed a lawsuit before the First Municipal Court in Belgrade for compensation for the mental pain suffered. According to the Agreement on Damage Compensation, they received 250.000 euros from the state as compensation for the brutal murder of Stambolić, as well as for the torture that was carried out on them. Stambolić was born on 5 November 1936 in the village of Brezova near Ivanjica. He was a high-ranking official of the former Union of Communists of Serbia (SKS) and president of the Presidency of Serbia during the former SFRY. At 8. session of the Central Committee of the SKS in 1987. year, which marked the beginning of the political rise of the then party leader Slobodan Milosevic, there was a sharp conflict between him and his supporters, Ivan Stambolic. Shortly after that session, Stambolić was forced to leave the position of President of the Presidency of Serbia and to withdraw from public life.