"BIA won't be pawn in political game"

Attempts at tying Operations Kaktus, Sumadija and Macva to the assassination of Zoran Djindjic are political games, says the head of the security services. BIA Chief Sasa Vukadinovic told reporters after a meeting of parliament’s Security Committee that data on these operations “contains no information on Prime Minister Djindjic’s murder.“ "BIA won't be pawn in political game" “The purpose of these operations was to shed light on the gravest crimes committed in 2001, and it’s not clear to me why someone is dredging it up again eight years later. My feeling is that it’s some kind of political game,“ said Vukadinovic. The BIA chief told the meeting that all issues related to those actions were classified as state secrets. He said that it would therefore be advisable for any session where such information was revealed to MPs to be held behind closed doors, and at BIA HQ. Vukadinovic said that certain individuals were seeking to drag the service into a political game, but that he would not let BIA be used as a pawn in a political grudge match. The security services boss said that the three operations in question had been performed between January and November 2001, and had been focused on getting to the bottom of some of the most serious crimes, including the murders of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic and journalist Slavko Curuvija. He added that those actions had no connection to Djindjic’s murder. There was no quorum at today’s session of the Security Committee, after members of the ruling coalition failed to appear. The Serb Radical Party said that it would be seeking the formation of a commission of inquiry to uncover the details of the aforesaid operations. Radical whip Dragan Todorovic said that he would be seeking the creation of a commission of inquiry if ruling coalition MPs continue to ask for postponements of the Security Committee session where Vukadinovic is due to discuss the operations. Sasa Vukadinovic (Blic, archive)

"BIA won't be pawn in political game"

“The purpose of these operations was to shed light on the gravest crimes committed in 2001, and it’s not clear to me why someone is dredging it up again eight years later. My feeling is that it’s some kind of political game,“ said Vukadinović.

The BIA chief told the meeting that all issues related to those actions were classified as state secrets.

He said that it would therefore be advisable for any session where such information was revealed to MPs to be held behind closed doors, and at BIA HQ.

Vukadinović said that certain individuals were seeking to drag the service into a political game, but that he would not let BIA be used as a pawn in a political grudge match.

The security services boss said that the three operations in question had been performed between January and November 2001, and had been focused on getting to the bottom of some of the most serious crimes, including the murders of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolić and journalist Slavko Ćuruvija.

He added that those actions had no connection to Đinđić’s murder.

There was no quorum at today’s session of the Security Committee, after members of the ruling coalition failed to appear.

The Serb Radical Party said that it would be seeking the formation of a commission of inquiry to uncover the details of the aforesaid operations.

Radical whip Dragan Todorović said that he would be seeking the creation of a commission of inquiry if ruling coalition MPs continue to ask for postponements of the Security Committee session where Vukadinović is due to discuss the operations.