YUGOSLAVIA: SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER VLADAN BATIC CONFRIMS THAT RADE MARKOVIC, FORMER STATE SECURITY CHIEF

Record ID: 419566

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER VLADAN BATIC CONFRIMS THAT RADE MARKOVIC, FORMER STATE SECURITY CHIEF
  • Date: 24th February 2000
  • Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (FEBRUARY 24, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER VLADAN BATIC ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE 0.08 2. MCU (Serbian) VLADAN BATIC, SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER SPEAKING SAYING: "I would like to inform you that following criminal charges lodged by the Serbian ministry of internal affairs, the Public Prosecutor's Of
  • Embargoed: 10th March 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELGRADE, NIS, BUJANOVAC, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA8MKB2X9XRXSGKI3J271AW5ASH
  • Story Text: Serbian justice minister Vladan Batic confirmed on
    Saturday (February 24) that Rade Markovic, Serbia's feared
    secret police chief during the authoritarian rule of Slobodan
    Milosevic, had been arrested.



    Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic told the
    assembled media that Rade Markovic had been arrested on
    Saturday: "I would like to inform you that following criminal
    charges lodged by the Serbian ministry of internal affairs,
    the Public Prosecutor's Office filed a request to the
    investigative judge to launch an investigation against Mr.

    Radomir Markovic, former state security chief, over suspicion
    that he committed a crime of murder and forgery of an official
    ID," he said.

    The arrest of Markovic is the most high-profile arrest of a
    Milosevic-era official since the former Yugoslav leader was
    ousted in a popular uprising in October last year.

    Serbian Justice minister said that the arrest was linked
    to a car crash in 1999 which slightly injured opposition
    leader Vuk
    Draskovic and killed four of his associates.

    Markovic, sacked from his post by Serbia's new reformist
    government on January 25, was arrested in the evening, the
    source said. No further details were immediately available.

    The independent B-92 radio station also reported Markovic
    had been arrested. Quoting Serbian government sources, it said
    three other people were detained with him but did not say who
    they were.

    Milosevic's foes often blamed secret police for mysterious
    kidnappings and murders that characterised the final years of
    his turbulent 13 years in power.

    Markovic denied last year that his department had been
    involved in politically motivated crimes in Serbia.

    Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) has repeatedly
    accused secret police of being behind the fatal road crash
    south
    of Belgrade in October 1999 that killed four of its officials.

    Draskovic, who narrowly escaped death when his car
    collided with a heavy lorry, described the incident as an
    assassination
    attempt against him.

    State officials at the time denied any role in the crash.


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