Milorad Ulemek

Former Serbian State Security Unit for Special Operations, commander Milorad "Legija" Ulemek, refused to answer questions about the murder of Serbian journalist Slavko Curuvija at the Belgrade Court of Appeal.

Legija told the court that he stands by his 2014 statement from the investigation and his 2016 statement from the first trial.

The main trial was opened in the proceedings against four former employees of the State Security Agency who were sentenced by the first-instance verdict to a total of 100 years in prison for participating in the murder of journalist and owner of "Dnevni Telegraf" Slavko uruvija in 1999.

Belgrade Higher Court told BIRN that Zvezdan Jovanovic, who shot dead Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003, is not eligible to ask for conditional release from prison until the end of 2029, despite a campaign calling for him to be freed immediately as a 'Serbian hero'.

"Milosevic's men on the ground" was the most common description of these two leading Serbian state security officials - Jovica Stanisic, chief of the interior ministry's State Security Service and his right-hand man, Franko 'Frenki' Simatovic, commander of the service's Special Operations Unit.

Looking back almost 20 years later, veteran journalist Milos Vasic told BIRN in an interview that the incident should have been recognised at the time as the "next step" in a chain of events that ultimately led to the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on March 12, 2003.

He has also said that he favours early release from prison for Milorad 'Legija' Ulemek and Zvezdan Jovanovic, who are serving sentences for the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003. He said that they should be freed because "they are heroes" who fought on behalf of Serbs.

In a final ruling that was made public on Monday, Belgrade Appeals Court cleared Milorad 'Legija' Ulemek and six other former members of the Special Operations Unit, JSO of involvement in a rebellion in November 2001 against the Serbian government led by Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

Investigative website Insajder is reporting, citing other media, that Kurak had been living and working for years in Tanzania.

The Interior Ministry (MUP) told Insajder that they sent a request to locate and arrest Kurak to the General Secretariat of Interpol, as well as their offices in Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Those found not guilty include former commander of the now disbanded JSO, Milorad "Legija" Ulemek - who was not in the courtroom today - and the unit's senior officer Zvezdan Jovanovic. Both men are currently serving 40 years in prison as the key conspirators in the 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

The former commander of the Red Berets (JSO) Milorad Ulemek, as well as Zvezdan Jovanovic, who is the immediate perpetrator of the murder and former Ulemek deputy, were sentenced to 40 years in prison for organizing the murder of the prime minister.

The political background of Djindjic's murder has not yet been revealed.