Serbia charges 45 people over murder of Prime Minister

Serbian police filed criminal charges against 45 people yesterday in connection with the murder of the Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic.

The suspects include the ultra-nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj and two aides of the former Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica.

Mr Seselj surrendered to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague in February. Many believe his sudden surrender was to serve as an alibi, ensuring he was known to be out of Serbia at the time of Mr Djindjic's death on 12 March.

Dusan Mihajlovic, the Interior Minister, said a powerful organised crime group, known as the Zemun Clan, was behind the killing. The assassination was the act of a group comprising 15 men, he said. Their plot was called "Stop The Hague". "Mr Seselj instigated members of the Zemun Clan to kill Mr Djindjic," Mr Mihajlovic said. "They [the clan] were connected with the anti-The Hague lobby. But they also had political ambitions."

He said the Zemun Clan wanted to create chaos and to install so-called "patriotic forces" in power.

Milorad Lukovic Legija, one of the clan's leaders, is still at large. He is a former commander of the Red Berets, a secret police unit whose members committed atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia. Two other leaders, Dusan Spasojevic and Mile Lukovic, were killed as they resisted arrest near Belgrade last month. Mr Mihajlovic said 35 suspects were behind bars.

The two former aides of Mr Kostunica – Rade Bulatovic, a security adviser, and General Aco Tomic, a former military intelligence chief – allegedly promised the army would not intervene in the chaos that was intended to follow Mr Djindjic's death.

Mr Kostunica, who stepped down in February, has accused the Serbian authorities of waging a political witch-hunt against his party.