THE TRUTH ABOUT 12 MARCH! MILE NOVAKOVIĆ: 'Đinđić wouldn't have been killed had he kept Milošević's security!'

Retired police colonel Mile Novaković is a man who knows a great deal. He spent three decades in the police force, starting out in the 1970s as a junior officer at the Belgrade Criminal Police Directorate focusing on drug trafficking. After the 2000 regime change, he led the Poskok Unit, which identified and arrested the members of the infamous Zemun Clan. In the wake of the assassination of Zoran Đinđić, carried out on 12 March 2003, he played a significant role in The Sabre, a police action which "struck" many politicians, journalists, and showbusiness stars in addition to hardened criminals.

Novaković is well-known, among other things, for interrogating Zvezdan Jovanović – who confessed to the murder of the prime minister to him – and headed the Criminal Police Directorate for a year. In his interview with Kurir, he revealed many details about the once powerful Zemun Clan and their most horrific crime – the murder of Prime Minister Đinđić, after which they thought they would take over the helm of the state.

For 18 years we have been hearing bizarre theories that the prime minister was not killed from Admirala Geprata Street, that there were three shots and not two, even that the entire thing was carried out by foreign nationals and not the prominent members of the state Special Operations Unit (SOU) – Zvezdan Jovanović and Milorad Ulemek Legija – together with Dušan Spasojević Šiptar's Zemun Clan. What do you say to that?

- "It's all made up. None of it has ever been proven. We spoke to 26 witnesses and they all heard two shots, only the group around Milan Veruović [author's note: Đinđić's bodyguard] heard three shots, no one else. Even Zvezdan Jovanović mentioned two. As for the location, the Zemun Clan had considered another location in Birčaninova Street, but they ruled it out because too many people had seen them coming to inspect the area, so they did everything from the space in Admirala Geprata Street."

There is no doubt anymore that there were serious oversights in Prime Minister Đinđić's security.

- "No one accused Veruović and his team of negligence. Someone should have asked them, 'What were you doing? Why did you allow the PM to be killed, why didn't you do whatever was necessary?' This whole group around Veruović was accepted into the police force without proper checks. They got in owing to their services from before 5 October, and this was their reward for pre-2000 loyalty. Let me tell you something – if Đinđić had kept Senta Milenković and his team of about 30 men, who had been in charge of President Slobodan Milošević's security in the 1990s, nothing would have gotten through… He wouldn't have been killed."

What was going on after Đinđić's murder, in the afternoon of 12 March 2003? Did chaos erupt in the police?

- "The National Security Council was in session. Jovan Prijić, who was Special Prosecutor then, was there too. The main topic of discussion was who we thought had killed the prime minister. Some among the police officials and Prijić said that there was no one else other than the Zemun Clan. Then the question of Legija was raised for the first time. He was added to the main figures of the Zemun Clan, and a warrant was issued. As was subsequently proved, all ten people named in the first arrest warrant really were involved in the assassination. The Zemun Clan didn't expect the response of the state to be so strong."

But the first warrant, issued on 12 March 2003, didn't name Zvezdan Jovanović, who had shot and killed the prime minister.

"His involvement was unknown until Milan Suvajdžić, aka Đura the Mute, was arrested ten or so days later. He denounced Jovanović as well as Željko Tojaga and Saša Pejaković from the SOU. Suvajdžić turned out to be the key witness in solving all the crimes committed by the Zemun Clan."

Why was he the key witness?

"He did logistics for them, helping them with everything – buying apartments, cars, cell phones… He knew everything and had very little direct involvement in the crimes, mostly in following people who were supposed to be kidnapped or killed. The Zemun Clan called Suvajdžić a moron, they mocked him and saw him as an errand boy. They had no idea how much he knew and how much he'd be able to tell the police. Our of revenge, after years of maltreatment, Đura told us everything he knew with gusto on the second day of interrogation. He dealt the killer blow to Dušan Spasojević's gang. Another member of the clan, Dušan Krsmanović, later confirmed everything Đura the Mute had said."

How was Legija placed at the top of the first arrest warrant from 12 March 2003 and named as the organizer?

"The general public was surprised at the time by the honorary place that Legija seemed to have appeared in out of nowhere. Many people had talked about him with respect until the murder of the prime minister, but he was now named as 'the first among the worst lot'. The decision to put Legija at the top of the warrant was agreed by the politicians, the police, and the judiciary. Beba Popović had a considerable influence in making the decision to issue the warrant straightaway. His view was, 'Will it be damaging to us to issue a warrant? If we do make a mistake, we'll apologize.' The police sent the photographs and information, and a warrant naming some ten people was issued on the same evening. There were additions every day, and eventually it had 30 or 40 people on it. The warrant and declaring the state of emergency dealt the final blow to the assassins."

After the prime minister was murdered, everyone was on the run except Zvezdan Jovanović, who returned to the SOU headquarters and was arrested a few days later in the Ministry of Interior building. There was a lot of speculation about getting his statement while he was in detention – there were rumours that he had allegedly been maltreated, etc. What can you tell us first-hand, as someone who took Jovanović's statement alongside the experienced police officer Rodoljub Milović?

"We didn't pressure him in any way. Milović and myself interrogated him the whole time, and it lasted several days, a couple of hours a day. In his confession, made on the night between 4 and 5 April 2003, Jovanović directly accused Legija, not realizing how important and consequential this confession was. In fact, he became the first person with direct involvement in the assassination when he confessed that he had received orders from the then former commander of the SOU to kill the prime minister. The only thing he had against his commander was that the latter had dragged him into the whole thing alongside criminals. He was convinced – and repeated it several times – that the murder wouldn't have been solved had he organized the team and had it not involved 'low-lives and criminals'. He said the following, to the letter: 'I knew it, the second he got me into it with those morons… They're all criminals and idiots… I knew that there was going to be problems.' He was convinced that things would have turned out differently if Legija had let him choose his team. He told us everything that night, down to the smallest detail: what he had done, what others had done. Everything that was subsequently specified in the indictment and which he repeated later on, when we were recording him with a camera, while he was pointing out all the places where assassination attempts took place. He told us everything that night. Everyone had been steering clear of Legija, even if it meant digging a hole for themselves. Only Zvezdan directly accused Legija in his statement: "Legija planned…, Legija called me up…, Legija obtained…, etc."

What was Zvezdan Jovanović like when he was giving his statement, in which he confessed to the murder of Prime Minister Đinđić?

"He was fully aware. Difficult to talk to. The first couple of times we went to see him, he wouldn’t tell us anything, not even the basic information about himself. And then he started talking about everything. The then head of the Central Penitentiary, Aca Jovanović, was of great help – he visited Jovanović every day and painted a picture of Milović and myself as honest policemen, the sort of people who wouldn't trick him. The then Special Prosecutor Jovan Prijić helped us a good deal too, explaining to Jovanović in legal terms what he was in for."

You accompanied Zvezdan Jovanović when he showed you the locations where assassination attempts against the prime minister had been made: Bubanj Potok, the National Assembly, the Limes Hall, etc. He also took you to the location where he had practiced shooting from a sniper rifle on the eve of the assassination.

"The recording made on Mount Fruška Gora is of major importance. That's where the target was found – the crossword puzzle that he had shot at, with the bullet trace visible. We also found a bullet shell from the location where he said he had fired. When we did a comparison later, the shell matched the rifle and shell found at the location of Đinđić's murder. So, whoever denies this official story related to the murder of the prime minister should only watch the recording in which Jovanović takes us to the locations where they had planned to kill Đinđić."

Jovanović himself subsequently denied everything in court, claiming that you had pulled a fast one on him.

"He must have a lot of regrets now. He can't forgive himself for turning out to be a wimp for life by their standards. All the other important players kept their mouth shut, he is the only one who told the whole story in detail."

Why did Judge Marko Kljajević, who presided over the full court in the trial of the prime minister's murderers, refused to admit into evidence the recording in which Jovanović is seen pointing out, explaining, and confessing to everything?

"His main argument was, 'I won't have anything on the case file that the Supreme Court can contest.' Because the recording was made without a court order, so he probably wanted to have a legally clean case, without anything there that could potentially be contested."

But, unless I'm mistaken, Judge Nata Mesarević, who presided over the full court after Kljajević bowed out, and handed down the ruling on the murderers, did show the recording?

"She took the opportunity when they had some free time, because a witness failed to appear, and showed the recording of Zvezdan's confession, made when he was showing us the locations at Bubanj Potok, the National Assembly, and Mount Fruška Gora, in the courtroom, without a big announcement. It was shocking for all present. Up to that point, Zvezdan's lawyers had been denying that he had ever confessed to anything. They were saying that it was all fabricated. After the recording was shown, the defence caused bedlam in the courtroom. Experienced as she was, Mesarović said, 'No need to get upset, it's good for us all to see this. Now we'll return the recording to the safe where non-evidence material is kept."

What can you tell us about the links that politicians had with the Zemun Clan? The case of the Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Šešelj, for example?

"Šešelj acted like an enabler for the Zemun Clan. Back when the Radicals were in power in Zemun, they were allowed to carry out construction works in Šilerova Street without any documentation. Then, just before he left for The Hague, he allegedly asked them to pledge themselves to getting things sorted with Đinđić. The Zemun Clan supported Šešelj financially as well. They begged him to stay and not go to The Hague. Šešelj's presence and the stories he tells would have been very important for their trial. His stories are interesting, but 90 percent of what he says is a lie. Thankfully, no one takes him seriously. But he isn't giving up. He was also talking about going to the prison to visit Jovanović and Legija. I don't know what the legal basis was for the visit."

What about Čedomir Jovanović?

"As a high-ranking post-5 October government official, he was entrusted with contacting the criminals on behalf of the Government of Serbia, which is very strange."

On Captain Dragan's drive

'Why doesn't he lend his support to the "great hero" Kalinić as well?'

You will have seen that Dragan Vasiljković, aka Captain Dragan, former leader of the paramilitary formation Knindže, has launched a petition for the freeing of Zvezdan Jovanović…

"I assume he wanted to be in the public eye, and he's succeeded. This petition drive is disgraceful. What I find surprising is that he doesn’t lend his support to the 'great hero' Sretko Kalinić, aka The Beast, who took part in all the wars in this region in the 1990s, since the start of the war in Croatia."

Boban Karović

Bonus video: