Arkan suspects stand trial again

By Matt Prodger
BBC, Belgrade

Arkan was shot dead four years ago in a Belgrade hotel

A new trial has begun in Belgrade over the murder of the infamous warlord known as Arkan.

Arkan was shot dead in 2000, when he had already been indicted by a UN tribunal over his actions during the the Croatian and Bosnian wars.

Three men were convicted of his murder but the Supreme Court overturned the convictions for lack of evidence.

One of the witnesses ordered to appear in court is the pop star known as Ceca, Arkan's wife.

Last year she was one of the thousands of people arrested and later released in a crackdown on organised crime following the assassination of the Serb Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic.

Former bank robber

Arkan - whose real name was Zeljko Raznatovic - became one of the best-known figures of the Balkan wars which tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

A former bank robber and hit man for the Yugoslav government, he set up his own ultra nationalist Serb paramilitary unit, known as Tigers, at the start of the conflict in 1990.

He was gunned down in the lobby of a Belgrade hotel 10 years later, allegedly a victim of Belgrade's gangland warfare or of Serbian state security - depending on who you speak to.

Milosevic extradition

Thirteen people accused of being directly involved in Mr Djindjic's murder are being tried at another court in Belgrade.

Mr Djindjic had outraged nationalists by extraditing former President Slobodan Milosevic to the war crimes tribunal in the Hague.

He had also been preparing an offensive against organised crime.