The assassination of Željko Ražnatović Arkan 25 years ago marked the end of a decade of internal destruction in the SFR Yugoslavia, writes the German weekly "Frajtag". "Arkan symbolized in Serbia a decade of war, when knowledge, honesty and hard work were associated with losers, while crime and violence enabled the rise of individuals," writes the author of the article Frank Wilman. He begins his article in the left-wing newspaper Frajtag with a description of the funeral:
"Led by a large hearse, thousands of people marched towards the Central Cemetery in Belgrade on January 24, 2000, in the blazing sun. At the head of the procession was the widow Ceca, a Balkan diva, followed by dark-eyed men, among them celebrities, poets, politicians, gangsters and curious onlookers. Nine days earlier, Željko Ražnatović, known as Arkan, a Serbian secret service hitman, wartime leader, politician, football club owner and businessman – was murdered in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel on January 15."
"Most Serbs said goodbye to him as a hero and defender of the homeland, while in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia they celebrated his bloody end," the German weekly writes.
Then, the most important moments from Arkan's life are listed chronologically and in quite detail, from beginning to end: "Željko was born on April 17, 1952, in the barracks in Brežice (Slovenia), into a military family, as the fourth, youngest child and only son. His father was a colonel in the JNA, and the army and the world of the partisans shaped his system of values: honor, discipline, comradeship. As a partisan leader, in 1944 he liberated Pristina from German occupation. When Arkan was six years old, his parents separated."
A decade of robberies across Europe and the beginning of work for the State Security Service

Freytag states that Arkan was first arrested as a teenager for stealing a handbag. "Neither police threats nor beatings at home helped. He ended up behind bars as a young man."
At the age of 20, he went to Italy, where he began his real criminal career. In 1974, he was arrested in Belgium for bank robbery, sentenced to ten years, but escaped after a few weeks. Robberies followed in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland – and each time he was imprisoned and escaped, the last time in 1983.
Since the late 1970s, according to the German weekly, Arkan had been in the state security service of the SFRY: "In a world divided by the Cold War, secret services knew no borders. Terrorism was considered a necessary evil: on one side were terrorist emigrants, who killed Yugoslav diplomats, planted bombs in embassies and consulates or hijacked planes, and on the other side were state security, which reacted by murdering emigrants, assassinations and breaking up – from their perspective – hostile political manifestations."
Wars of the Nineties: Arkan's Tigers
The German newspaper continues: "The late 1980s in Yugoslavia were marked by Slobodan Milošević's famous slogan uttered at Gazimestan on June 28, 1989, 'No one is allowed to beat you.'"
"The triumph of Red Star in the European Champions Cup in 1991 had a special impact on the atmosphere in Serbia at the time," the author recalls, stating that "state security, in order to prevent the opposition that was gathering around football fans from gaining greater influence, relied on Arkan's services."
Since then, Red Star fans have become Delije, and from there Arkan recruited members of the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG), a paramilitary unit of which he became commander, writes Fraytag, adding that Arkan's Tigers, about 1.000 men, were engaged from mid-1991 to the end of 1995, and were financed and equipped by the Serbian secret police.

Hague war crimes indictment
"After the outbreak of war in Bosnia in April 1992, this unit operated on the Croatian and Bosnian fronts, participating in ethnic cleansing, during which Bosnian civilians were killed or forcibly deported. Arkan personally led most of the operations, rewarding his officers and soldiers with decorations and war booty. He gained unprecedented popularity in the Serbian media."
"When the December 1991 ceasefire temporarily ended the fighting in Croatia, Eastern Slavonia, with its Serbian autonomy in eastern Croatia, became practically Arkan's private state. With his own armed forces and the support of the State Security, Arkan remained the undisputed leader of the Serbian underground for the rest of his life and began to expose himself more and more politically."
After that, the article describes a failed political engagement, and then the "wedding of the century" with Balkan turbo-folk giant Ceca.
"When the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended with the Dayton Agreement in late 1995, Arkan's Tigers were officially disbanded in April 1996. Then, on September 30, 1997, the Hague Tribunal indicted Željko Ražnatović on 24 counts of war crimes against Bosniak-Muslim civilians, crimes against humanity, and grave violations of the Geneva Conventions. Arkan had clearly become problematic."

Three bullets in the back of the head
The following is a film description of Arkan's murder on January 15, 2000, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Belgrade: "Dobroslav Gavrić, a member of the Belgrade police, at 17.10:99 p.m. pulled out a CZ-XNUMX pistol from under his coat and fired three bullets into the back of Arkan's head. During the trial, it remained unclear what reasons led to Arkan's liquidation, as well as who ordered it. Many witnesses unexpectedly died, disappeared or did not appear at the trials."
The author concludes the article with the following sentences: "For ultra-right nationalists, Arkan remains a Serbian hero. Turbo-folk fans still sigh over his romance with Ceca and the 'wedding of the century'."
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