Mafia murders shake Belgrade

“A typical” trap So wrote Belgrade press after the assassination of the renowned lawyer, Dragoslav Ognjanovic (57 years old). He was the 19th victim in this year's fierce war between criminal gangs in Serbia.

The lawyer was shot dead Saturday in front of his apartment, while the 26-year-old boy was wounded in his arm. So far there is no arrest. Ognjanovic was not an unknown person. In the early 2000s, he was part of President Slobodan Milosevic's legal consulting team, which had to answer for war crimes until his death. In recent years Ognjanovic's clients were some of the most prominent figures in the Serbian underworld.

The murder triggered a week-long strike by his colleagues throughout Serbia.

“Who will now dare offer legal consultancy to clients dealing with mafia groups and killings?”, says Bozo Prelevic, a prominent lawyer and former minister. The killers have sent a clear message to justice and lawyers, he says.

Tracks in Montenegro

Those who know this scene say that even the latest murder is listed in the bloody washing of accounts between two hostile drug clans. Ognjanovic recently represented Luka Boyovic, one of the most prominent bosses of the Serbian mafia.

Although he remains in prison in Spain, he reportedly continues to run drug deals in the Balkans. In recent years some of his relatives, including his brother, were killed in Belgrade. The two competing clans in the drug market originate in Shkalyar and Kavac, two areas at Kotor Bay in Montenegro, but they are fought on the streets of Belgrade, considered a bastion of organised crime.

Not a few people doubt about politics, police and justice. Of the 124 mafia murders that the Belgrade Research Group recorded, KRIK, in 2012, only nine cases have turned white. In 87 cases there are no suspects. The “should not be forgotten that one side of this Mafia war is also the open support of the state, Stevan Dojnovic wrote on Twitter.

President Aleksandar Vucic has ruled for six years in Serbia with iron hands. The biggest media are under his influence, the opposition nearly existent. Lack of independence in the justice system and press freedom is regularly highlighted in European Commission progress reports.

During the World Championships in Russia, a photo shows Danilo Vucic, the president's 20-year-old son, cheering in the stands. He was surrounded by some familiar faces of the crime world and wore the same T-shirt with the <x0patriotic inscription” as they did.

That's why they trust the president very little, when he says his son was only by chance alongside such men. When the same company was present as a giant in the Tribuy even last year, when Vucic swore. At a time when some demonstrators and journalists were beaten.

Out of Control

Criminals from Vucic's trusted circle were led by October 2016 by Aleksandar Stankovic, who held close ties to the Kavaci clan. Stankovic was also killed in Belgrade, even a typical <x0kurth”. He used to move freely, although there was a penalty of cut form against him for six years because of the trafficking in the drone and attempted murder.

But Stankovic secured 12 times medical reports to escape prison, and went to see Belgrade's Partizan football matches regularly. Such a way of escape from prison does not become so easily unconnected to the highest levels of politics.

Serbia is sinking into drugs. It is seen that the same criminals rally around the ruling party.”, says lawyer Prelevic. The almighty Progressive Party is also accused of distributing public tenders and jobs to loyal supporters. “This node of crime, money, and politics is destroying the country and the justice system. ”

But even the fiercest critics of President Vucic do not claim that he is pleased to see mob killings. Serbia's strong man is therefore seeking to appear as one who knows to catch up with problems and fight crime. But lawlessness, if ever spread, is like a cancer disease, Judge Miodrag Majic wrote on Twitter. You can't control him anymore.