Serbia after Djindjić: War crimes, organized crime, and trust in public institutions

Problems of Post-Communism

Volumn 51, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 10-17

  Gordy, Eric ^a  

^a CLARK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 2642575212     PISSN: 10758216     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2004.11052169     Document Type: Review

References (32)

1. Unsigned (attributed to FoNet), "C-48: SDB ubacivala heroin u Hrvatsku" (C-48: State Security Sent Heroin to Croatia), Danas (April 29, 2003).
2. Unsigned (attributed to Beta), "Nataša Mićlć pozvala gradjane na jedinstvo" (Nataša Mićlć calls for unity among citizens), B92 vesti (March 19, 2003). Reports from Serbia confirm that drug addicts were the incidental victims of the action against organized crime. Now that their supply and distribution networks have been interrupted, they are seeking treatment for withdrawal symptoms in large numbers. For a report from Novi Sad, see Vesna Savić, "'Sablja' i u zakonima" ('Sabre' in the Laws, Too), Novosadski nedeljnik (April 2003), available at www.nsnedeljnik.co.yu/aktuelno.html.
3. Unsigned (attributed to Beta), "Nataša Mićlć pozvala gradjane na jedinstvo" (Nataša Mićlć calls for unity among citizens), B92 vesti (March 19, 2003). Reports from Serbia confirm that drug addicts were the incidental victims of the action against organized crime. Now that their supply and distribution networks have been interrupted, they are seeking treatment for withdrawal symptoms in large numbers. For a report from Novi Sad, see Vesna Savić, "'Sablja' i u zakonima" ('Sabre' in the Laws, Too), Novosadski nedeljnik (April 2003), available at www.nsnedeljnik.co.yu/aktuelno.html.
4. The full government statement, including the names of all fortyfive individuals charged in the conspiracy, can be found on-line on the Serbian government Web site: www.srbija.sr.gov.yu/vesti/2003-04/29/335683.html.
5. I b i d.
6. I b i d.
7. A well-elaborated political motivation may, under international law, lead to a crime's being considered as more rather than less severe. Whereas "violations of the laws or customs of war" can occur as the result of oversight, evidence of an explicit policy of committing violations would encourage prosecutors to seek charges of crimes against humanity or genocide.
8. Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), trans. W.D. Halls (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1982).
9. See, for example, Lawrence Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); Eugene Genovese, Roll Jordan Roll: The World the Slaves Made (New York: Vintage, 1976).
10. See, for example, Lawrence Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); Eugene Genovese, Roll Jordan Roll: The World the Slaves Made (New York: Vintage, 1976).
11. Gerard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995).
12. One example of the effort to maintain this label is provided in the open letter released in January 2003 by Milorad Luković-Legija, the suspected ringleader of the conspiracy responsible for the murder of Djindjid. In the letter he claims credit for the change of regime in 2000, accuses Serbia's political leadership of "humiliating the state" by cooperating with the ICTY, and claims authority for himself on the basis of the patriotism that he has "demonstrated and proved countless times." The full text of the letter was published in the Belgrade daily Blic on January 28, 2003, and is available on-line at www.blic.co.yu.
13. In addition to numerous public statements, President Koštunica also acted less publicly to hinder cooperation with the ICTY. In March 2001 he established a "Commission of the General Staff of the Army of Serbia and Montenegro for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal," parallel to the government commission established by parliament. Koštunica's commission was staffed by active and retired military officers (among them General Milan Gvero, former deputy to Ratko Mladić, himself under indictment), who were able to exercise some control over the documentation available to domestic and international prosecutors and, consequently, to hinder official cooperation. See "Ukinuta komisija GS Vojske SCG za saradnju sa Hagom" (Commission of the SRJ Army General Staff for Cooperation with the Hague Disbanded), B92 vesti (April 11, 2003).
14. The elections were declared invalid because turnout was below the 50 percent threshold. A second round was held in December, but boycotted by all major parties except Koštunica's DSS and the extreme-right SRS of Vojislav Šešelj. A third effort in November 2003, in which the DOS candidate Dragoljub Mićunović was pitted against the SRS candidate Tomislav Nikolić, also failed due to low turnout.
15. Jelena Kosanić, interview with Nebojsa Čovič, Radio B92 (March 13, 2003). The text of the interview is available at www.b92.net/intervju/2003/Čovič.php.
16. All the statements by Koštunica and DSS are taken from the archive of party press releases at the DSS Web site: www.dss.org.yu.
17. Strategic Marketing, "Istraživanje javnog mnenja" (Public Opinion Research) (March 2003), p. 3 (www.smmri.co.yu).
18. Ibid., p. 4.
19. Ibid., p. 17.
20. Ibid., p. 14.
21. Two of the most important scandals involved charges of money laundering against Zoran Janjuševič and Nemanja Kolesar, both of them mid-level political appointees, and the apparent manipulation of parliamentary voting in the removal of the controversial National Bank governor, Mladjan Dinkič, and his replacement by Kori Udovički.
22. "Specijalni sud još nije dobio zahtev za sprovodjenje istrage" (The Special Court Did Not Receive a Request for Investigation), B92 vesti dana (December 10, 2003).
23. "Ukinuto vanredno stanje u Srbiji" (State of Emergency Lifted in Serbia), unsigned news item posted on the Web site of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (April 22, 2003). The article is available at www.cesid.org/vesti/index.shtml.
24. R.D., "Uzeo 150 hiljada evra za adresu zaštićenog svedoka" (He Took 150,000 Euros for the Address of a Protected Witness), Danas (March 21, 2003).
25. For a recent example, see Srećko Mihailović, Gradjani u susretu sa institucijama u tranziciji (Citizens Confront Institutions in Transition) (Belgrade: Center for Policy Studies, May 2002). The results are similar to those in a survey from the previous year, Srećko Mihailović et al., Javno mnenje Srbije: Na početku novih deoba (Serbian Public Opinion: The Beginning of New Divisions) (Belgrade: Center for Policy Studies, August 2001). All of the published research reports of the center are available in PDF format at www.cpa-cps.org.yu.
26. For a recent example, see Srećko Mihailović, Gradjani u susretu sa institucijama u tranziciji (Citizens Confront Institutions in Transition) (Belgrade: Center for Policy Studies, May 2002). The results are similar to those in a survey from the previous year, Srećko Mihailović et al., Javno mnenje Srbije: Na početku novih deoba (Serbian Public Opinion: The Beginning of New Divisions) (Belgrade: Center for Policy Studies, August 2001). All of the published research reports of the center are available in PDF format at www.cpa-cps.org.yu.
27. Institut društvenih nauka, Jugoslovensko javno mnenje 1996 (Yugoslav Public Opinion, 1996), cited in Ognjen Pribičević, "Da li je minimalistički koncept demokratije još uvek validan? Slučaj Srbije" (Is the Minimalist Conception of Democracy Still Valid? The Case of Serbia), 1998. The article is available at www.komunikacija.org.yu/komunikacija/casopisi/sociologija/XL_3/C103/document/.
28. Institut društvenih nauka, Jugoslovensko javno mnenje 1996 (Yugoslav Public Opinion, 1996), cited in Ognjen Pribičević, "Da li je minimalistički koncept demokratije još uvek validan? Slučaj Srbije" (Is the Minimalist Conception of Democracy Still Valid? The Case of Serbia), 1998. The article is available at www.komunikacija.org.yu/komunikacija/casopisi/sociologija/XL_3/C103/document/.
29. See the summary of public opinion research in Eric Gordy, "Rating the Sloba Show: Is the ICTY's Leading Case Advancing Justice?" Problems of Post-Communism 50, no. 3 (May-June 2003): 53-63.
30. The four officers charged were the former chief of staff, Nebojša Pavković, the former commander of the Priština Corps, Vladimir Lazarević, the former chief of public security, Vlastimir Djordjević, and Djordjević's successor, Sreten Lukić. The indictment had been issued on September 22, but was unsealed on October 20.
31. Unsigned, "Zapad delimično snosi krivicu za popularnost ekstremista" (The West Carries Some Responsibility for the Popularity of Extremists), B92 vesti dana (December 4, 2003).
32. Silvano Bolčić, "Destroyed Society: Serbia in the Nineties and the Prospects for Renewal" (lecture at Brown University, 2002). An outline of the lecture is available at www.watsoninstitute.org/muabet/ new_site/events_bolcic.cfm.