Democratic Party members comfort the mother of assassinated Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, Mila Djindjic during a commemoration in Belgrade March 13, 2003. Djindjic, who battled to transform his country from pariah state to a market-oriented democracy, was shot twice outside Belgrade‘s main government building on Wednesday, an act that sent shock waves through Serbia and alarmed Western powers.

PHOTO – REUTERS

BELGRADE - Serbia said on Thursday key gangland suspects behind the murder of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic were still at large as the country mourned the man they hoped would anchor Serbia among Europe‘s democracies. Deputy Prime Minister Zarko Korac said despite a number of arrests overnight the main suspects behind the assassination of the 50-year-old reformist premier were „on the run“.

European Union president Greece gave assurances that the 15-nation bloc would support Belgrade in its attempts to shore up stability in Serbia and the Balkans. Korac vowed Serbia would press on with reforms to snuff out the mafia-like culture spawned under the turbulent rule of ousted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, now on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Korac was speaking to Belgrade‘s B92 radio after the government accused a Belgrade-based criminal gang called Zemun for the murder and named around 20 of its alleged leaders. „According to the information we have, one of the prime suspects was an associate of the state security service. He has taken part in a number of assassinations. The other is a former Special Operations Unit commander and he is on the run.“

Djindjic, who battled to transform his country from pariah state to a market-oriented democra- cy, was shot twice outside Belgrade‘s main government building on Wednesday, an act that sent shock waves through Serbia and alarmed Western powers. The government announced three days of mourning for Djindjic — the first European government leader to be killed since Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986 — and a memorial service was held in parliament later on Thursday. It also declared a state of emergency, under which the army takes over police functions and civil rights can be restricted. Greece, which holds the EU‘s rotating presidency, said organised crime was Serbia‘s public enemy number one. Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis said a key danger was organised crime could be funding political figures and parties, which would in turn corrode political institutions and stability. Djindjic, who became prime minister in February 2001, played a crucial role in ousting Milosevic and later sent him to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, a decision which enraged Serbian nationalists. Djindic‘s death leaves Serbia with neither a prime minister or elected president, but officials said Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic would step in as acting prime minister.

Western leaders, who have deployed thousands of NATO peacekeeping troops across the former Yugoslavia since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, accused extremists of trying to return the region to the chaos and instability of the Milosevic era. The government listed some 20 alleged Zemun clan leaders, including Milorad Lukovic, a former head of the „Red Berets“ — a special police unit which fought in the Balkan wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Also listed was Dejan Milenkovic, accused by police of trying to kill Djindjic last month with a truck that swerved towards the prime minister‘s convoy of cars. Daily Politika said one or more snipers shot Djindjic, who the government said was hit in the chest and the stomach, at a distance of 200 metres from the second floor of a building.

REUTERS