Murder darkens Serbia's independence

SERBIA: Serbia formally declared independence yesterday, after Montenegro scrapped its union with Belgrade, but the event was overshadowed by the murder of another key witness in the 2003 assassination of reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic.

After an extraordinary session of parliament, officials lowered the flag of now-defunct Serbia and Montenegro and raised the Serbian standard in its place, driving a final nail into the coffin of what was once the six-republic federation of Yugoslavia.

Though Belgrade's leaders complained about Montenegro's referendum on independence, they did little to oppose it and must now deal alone with Serbia's fugitive war crimes suspects, talks on Kosovo's future and powerful nationalist forces.

One of the leaders of those forces - who still swear loyalty to the late president Slobodan Milosevic - said he was "really sorry that Montenegro, with enormous help from the European Union, gained so-called independence and many of our people were left outside our borders. This is a sad day in the history of Serbia," he declared.

Many Serbs fear the nationalists will use their country's predicament to undermine and finally topple the weak, moderately pro-Western government.

Fears of a slide towards extremism grew on news that another vital witness in the trial of the alleged killers of Mr Djindjic had been found dead, his body handcuffed, beaten, burned and dumped at a petrol station near Belgrade. Zoran Vukojevic turned prosecution witness to testify against fellow members of the mafia group dubbed the Zemun Clan, blaming them for plotting the shooting of the charismatic, pro-EU premier and planning to return Mr Milosevic's supporters to power.

His testimony was closed to the press and public, but Serb media said he could implicate in the murder plot several allies of current prime minister Vojislav Kostunica. "Serbia is again a state in which mafia can rely on the government," said Vladan Batic of the opposition Christian Democrats, one of many politicians to blame Mr Kostunica and the police for failing to protect Mr Vukojevic.

Rajko Danilovic, a lawyer for the Djindjic family, said the murder "shows that certain criminal groups play a major role in society". The trial of Mr Djindjic's alleged killers started at the end of 2003 but has been stalled by technicalities and the murder of another witness.