MUP employs former JSO members

Two men who provided alibis for the Djindjic killers are today employed with the Serbian police (MUP), it has emerged. Daily Danas writes in its Saturday issue that former Special Operations Unit (JSO) members Bosko Jovic and Slavisa Krstic are still members of the police force. MUP employs former JSO members The JSO operated as a State Security (DB) unit throughout the 1990s, to be placed under MUP's jurisdiction after the October 5, 2000, regime change. The unit, also known as the Red Berets, has spawned a number of criminals accused and found guilty of such crimes as political assassinations and kidnappings. Its former commander and his deputy, Milorad Ulemek a.k.a. Legija and Zvezdan Jovanovic, were found guilty last year and sentenced to 40 years in prison each for the March 12, 2003, murder of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. It has now transpired that Jovic appeared at the trial as a defense witness, to claim that he was with Jovanovic, in his apartment, on the day and at the time Djindjic was murdered in front of the seat of the Serbian government in Belgrade. Krstic also testified for the defense, saying that he was working as Ulemek's security guard on March 11 and 12, 2003, and that they heard about the assassination in a news bulletin. But Ulemek's security chief told the court that his former employer was hiding in a different apartment in Belgrade from the beginning of March that year. Now the newspaper reports that, four months after it filed a request with the police to clarify whether the pair were still employed with the country's law enforcement, the answer has arrived. "A disciplinary procedure was neither initiated nor conducted [against Jovic and Krstic] for alleged perjury during the trial of the those guilty of the murder of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic," the MUP response said. The letter further specified that neither the judge before whom the two testified nor the state prosecutor with jurisdiction in the case have filed charged against them.

MUP employs former JSO members

The JSO operated as a State Security (DB) unit throughout the 1990s, to be placed under MUP's jurisdiction after the October 5, 2000, regime change.

The unit, also known as the Red Berets, has spawned a number of criminals accused and found guilty of such crimes as political assassinations and kidnappings.

Its former commander and his deputy, Milorad Ulemek a.k.a. Legija and Zvezdan Jovanović, were found guilty last year and sentenced to 40 years in prison each for the March 12, 2003, murder of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.

It has now transpired that Jović appeared at the trial as a defense witness, to claim that he was with Jovanović, in his apartment, on the day and at the time Đinđić was murdered in front of the seat of the Serbian government in Belgrade.

Krstić also testified for the defense, saying that he was working as Ulemek's security guard on March 11 and 12, 2003, and that they heard about the assassination in a news bulletin.

But Ulemek's security chief told the court that his former employer was hiding in a different apartment in Belgrade from the beginning of March that year.

Now the newspaper reports that, four months after it filed a request with the police to clarify whether the pair were still employed with the country's law enforcement, the answer has arrived.

"A disciplinary procedure was neither initiated nor conducted [against Jović and Krstić] for alleged perjury during the trial of the those guilty of the murder of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić," the MUP response said.

The letter further specified that neither the judge before whom the two testified nor the state prosecutor with jurisdiction in the case have filed charged against them.