Prosecution: Two ministers also targeted

Ministers Dragan Djilas, DS, and Mladjan Dinkic, G17 Plus, were also potential targets of an assassination plot, according to the War Crimes Prosecution. Yesterday, Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said that former members of the Republic of Srpska (RS) state security agency plotted to kill him. Prosecution: Two ministers also targeted The report first appeared in the Belgrade daily Blic, while later in the day Vukcevic held a news conference, along with Justice Minister Dusan Petrovic, DS, to confirm it. Today, Vukcevic clarified that the two ministers he mentioned as possible targets were Djilas and Dinkic. Earlier, the Prosecution said that an unnamed witness who gave this information during interrogation in mid-February, also mentioned former Milorad Ulemek associates as being involved. Vukcevic added that he received several threatening letters from the United States, while the last one arrived from Belgrade. He said that it was determined they were written by the same person. But the RS police said earlier they are not involved in the investigation into the planned assassination of the Serbian war crimes prosecutor, and that they learned about the case from media reports. Head of the Republic of Srpska’s (RS) Criminal Police Department Gojko Vasic said that Serbian MUP had not asked for checks to be carried out on individuals in connection with the planned assassination of Vladimir Vukcevic and two senior government officials. Vasic said that he did not know the identity of the individuals named by one witness interviewed by the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution as the masterminds of the plot. Following claims in certain media that fugitive members of the Zemun Clan criminal group Sretko Kalinic and Milos Simovica had gone to ground in the RS, Vasic said that though there was no operative knowledge of their presence in the entity, the possibility could not be discounted. “That story’s been around for a year and a half, when the two of them were spotted in the Jezero restaurant near Banja Luka. We received that information ten days late. We checked its authenticity, and it turned out that the information had been accurate,” said the RS police official. He said that the information regarding Kalinic and Simovic had been supplied by Serbian MUP, but that RS police had been unable to react on account of its late arrival.

Prosecution: Two ministers also targeted

The report first appeared in the Belgrade daily Blic, while later in the day Vukčević held a news conference, along with Justice Minister Dušan Petrović, DS, to confirm it.

Today, Vukčević clarified that the two ministers he mentioned as possible targets were Đilas and Dinkić.

Earlier, the Prosecution said that an unnamed witness who gave this information during interrogation in mid-February, also mentioned former Milorad Ulemek associates as being involved.

Vukčević added that he received several threatening letters from the United States, while the last one arrived from Belgrade. He said that it was determined they were written by the same person.

But the RS police said earlier they are not involved in the investigation into the planned assassination of the Serbian war crimes prosecutor, and that they learned about the case from media reports.

Head of the Republic of Srpska’s (RS) Criminal Police Department Gojko Vasić said that Serbian MUP had not asked for checks to be carried out on individuals in connection with the planned assassination of Vladimir Vukčević and two senior government officials.

Vasić said that he did not know the identity of the individuals named by one witness interviewed by the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution as the masterminds of the plot.

Following claims in certain media that fugitive members of the Zemun Clan criminal group Sretko Kalinić and Miloš Simovića had gone to ground in the RS, Vasić said that though there was no operative knowledge of their presence in the entity, the possibility could not be discounted.

“That story’s been around for a year and a half, when the two of them were spotted in the Jezero restaurant near Banja Luka. We received that information ten days late. We checked its authenticity, and it turned out that the information had been accurate,” said the RS police official.

He said that the information regarding Kalinić and Simović had been supplied by Serbian MUP, but that RS police had been unable to react on account of its late arrival.