Remains of missing president found by Serbian police

Serbian police announced yesterday that they had uncovered the remains of a former president missing for almost three years and accused a unit loyal to Slobodan Milosevic of murdering him.

"The motives for the killing were political," the Interior Minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, said at a news conference. "It is clear who ordered this crime," he added, referring to the country's former leader, Mr Milosevic, who is on trial for war crimes in The Hague.

Mr Mihajlovic said Ivan Stambolic, the communist Serbian president in the 1980s, was killed by the Special Operations Unit (JSO), who are the suspects in the assassination of the prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, earlier this month. Arrests in the Djindjic case led police to Mr Stambolic's body. His remains were uncovered in a quicklime pit on Fruska Gora mountain in northern Serbia, near the city of Novi Sad.

Mr Stambolic was viewed as a possible presidential candidate and a threat to Mr Milosevic ahead of the elections in September 2000. He was abducted in August 2000, while jogging in a Belgrade park.

Mr Mihajlovic's surprise statement was the first official confirmation of what Serbians have long suspected: that Mr Milosevic and his wife were behind the Stambolic abduction.

Mr Milosevic would be questioned in The Hague in connection with the case, Mr Mihajlovic said. His wife, Mira Markovic, would be questioned in Belgrade, the minister added.

Last night, though, Ms Markovic appeared to be on the run. Police said they had searched for her without success at her home in Belgrade as well as in the couple's home town of Pozarevac.

Mr Stambolic had no plans to run in the historic 2000 elections. In the event, Mr Milosevic lost to Vojislav Kostunica and was forced to step down after a popular uprising that followed his refusal to admit electoral defeat.

Mr Stambolic had not been actively involved in politics since he was removed from his post in 1989 by Mr Milosevic, who replaced him as Serbian president. There was a widespread belief that the paranoid Ms Markovic considered Mr Stambolic a strong possible opponent to her husband.

In earlier years, he was a patron of Mr Milosevic – something he said later that he considered to be his "greatest mistake". Mr Stambolic picked the young Mr Milosevic as a Communist Party member and steered him into politics.

According to Mr Mihajlovic, four members of the JSO abducted Mr Stambolic in a Belgrade park, drove to Fruska Gora mountain and shot him dead with two bullets. The body was put into a previously prepared lime-covered grave.

Mr Mihajlovic did not say when the body was found, but confirmed that the police investigation into the 12 March killing of Mr Djindjic led to the discovery.The four alleged perpetrators of the Djindjic murder, all members of JSO, have been arrested in the wide manhunt in Serbia that followed his death.

The deputy commander of the JSO, Zvezdan Jovanovic, was arrested on Monday for pulling the trigger on Mr Djindjic. The unit, notorious for its war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia, was disbanded this week. The commander of the JSO and more than 15 of its members have been put behind bars in the course of the investigation into the assassination of Mr Djindjic. More than 1,000 people have been detained, and 400 have been charged.

Milorad Lukovic "Legija", the former commander of the JSO under Mr Milosevic, is still at large. Serbian police blame him and his Zemun clan of criminals for the killing of Mr Djindjic. Mr Mihajlovic confirmed the police were still looking for Mr Lukovic.

The Stambolic family, meanwhile, are at last able to begin the grieving process, now that the former president's remains have been discovered. Mr Stambolic's son Veljko said: "I will finally be able to bury my father's body and light a candle at his grave."