How the Virus of Criminal Authoritarianism Killed Zoran Djindjic

Djindjic was assassinated because he was about to strike a mortal blow to one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the country. The people who murdered him acted in order to avoid going to prison. He was killed in a conspiracy concocted by the Zemun Clan, a band of thugs from Serbia's underworld, and members of the country's security establishment.

In Serbia, the story of the murder of Djindjic is sometimes compared to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. However, apart from the fact that both were killed by a sniper rifle, nothing else is comparable.

In the 1991 movie 'JFK', Kevin Costner, in the role of the District Attorney Jim Garrison, interrogates a man allegedly involved in the death of the 35th US President. To Garrison's question, "And who killed the President?", the man replies (borrowing a quote from Churchill): "It's a mystery! It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma! The… shooters don't even know!"

In contrast to the veil of mystery wrapped around Kennedy's killing that allowed conspiracy theories to mushroom, the widely scrutinised trial for the Djindjic murder made it possible to shed almost complete light on the who, why and how of his assassination.

However, many reject the possibility that gangsters alone dared to strike at the head of the Serbian government. They either think that in order to muster the courage to commit such an act, the criminals must have had political backers who gave them more or less explicit approval to carry out the operation.

In December 2011, Djindjic's mother and sister filed a private criminal complaint  against Nebojsa Covic, Djindjic's professed ally and a deputy prime minister in his government, and Velimir Ilic, a disgruntled member of the ruling coalition,...