21 years ago today, Zoran Djindjić was killed

As announced by the Government, Prime Minister in technical mandate Ana Brnabić and ministers will lay wreaths at 10 a.m. in the courtyard of the Government, at the place where Djindjić was killed.

Prime Minister of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated on March 12, 2003. A few hours after the murder, the government declared a state of emergency in Serbia, and members of the Zemun criminal clan and part of the Special Operations Unit (JSO) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia were immediately suspected as perpetrators.

During the state of emergency, which lasted until April 22, 2003, the police arrested more than 11,000 people, including politicians, high-ranking military officers and holders of judicial positions, in Operation Saber.

In August 2003, an indictment was brought against 44 people for participating in the organization of the murder, and the trial began on December 22 of the same year in the District Court in Belgrade.

On May 23, 2007, the court found the defendants guilty and were sentenced to a total of 378 years in prison. Former JSO commander Milorad Ulemek Legija and his deputy Zvezdan Jovanović were sentenced to 40 years in prison each, as the immediate perpetrator of the murder.

The political background of the murder of Djindjic has never been revealed.

Zoran Djindjić was born in 1952 in Bosanski Samac and graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 1974. He is one of the founders of the Democratic Party, in which he was elected chairman of the Executive Committee in September 1990, and chairman of the party in January 1994. From February to September 1997, he held the position of mayor of Belgrade, as a candidate of the Zajedno coalition.

After the victory of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia in the December 2000 parliamentary elections, he was elected Prime Minister in January 2001.