Milorad Ulemek
Encyclopedia
Milorad "Legija" Ulemek , also known as Milorad Luković (Милорад Луковић) (born on March 15, 1965 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia
) is a former commander of the Serbian secret police special unit, the Red Berets (JSO), convicted of the assassinations of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic
and organiser of the attempted murder of the Serbian opposition leader Vuk Draskovic
.
He was a member of the notorious Zemun clan
, one of the Serbian mafia
groups based in Belgrade.
in the village of Pecka, Topusko
, in the region of Kordun
in Croatia
. His father Milan was a sub-Officer
in the Yugoslav Army
, while his mother Natalija was a homewife.
Milorad, grew up in New Belgrade, near Hotel Jugoslavija
. He was problematic in his early teens. He finished an auto mechanic
program and medicine school in Belgrade.
He became friends with Kristijan Golubović
in 1984, and together they made their first "big" robbery. He was given the nickname "Cema" from "cement".
After a botched robbery in 1985, he left for France
and on April 10, 1986, he joined the French Foreign Legion
where he stayed for 6 years, fighting in: Chad, Libya, Beirut, French Guyana and Iraq. He was given the nom de guerre "Legionnaire" (Legija) because of his military career in the Legion.
He left the French Legion with the Yugoslav Wars in 1992, and joined the Serb Volunteer Guard
under Arkan (Arkan's tigers), becoming one of Arkan's closest friend and commander of the unit. He commanded the "Super Tigrovi" (Super Tigers) special unit which operated in eastern Slavonia
.
The unit was disbanded in April 1996, and all members were ordered to join the Yugoslav Army
, however, in the same year the JSO (Special Operations Unit) was formed, merging the former Serb Guard with the wartime "Red Berets" (The JSO acquired the nickname from the merger), Jovica Stanišić
, head of the State Security Service asked Legija to join the unit. In 1999 he became the leader of the "Red Berets", and became the official commander of "JSO SDB Serbia" in April 2001.
, former President of Serbia, was kidnapped in August 2000 while out jogging, executed and his body concealed in woodlands. Slobodan Milosevic was believed to have considered Stambolic, his former mentor, a threat to his future political authority. In July 2005 Milorad Ulemek was found guilty of his murder and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment. The sentence also took account of Ulemek's role in the attempted killing of another threat to Milosevic, Vuk Draskovic.
's regime in October 2000, was shot dead outside the Serbian government building on March 12, 2003. Several members of the Red Berets and the criminal group known as the Zemun clan
were also convicted of his murder.
The Red Berets were used during Milosevic's rule for special operations in Croatia
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Kosovo
, as well as for the elimination of Milosevic's political opponents.
Djindjic's assassination was described by Presiding Judge Nata Mesarovic as "a political murder, a criminal act aimed against the state", in which police officers and the Mafia had joined hands to kill Djindjic and gain political power.
Ulemek's deputy in the Red Berets, Zvezdan Jovanovic
, was convicted of shooting Djindjic.
The Djindjic murder trial was the first organised crime trial in Serbia. There were threats to the trial chamber, witness intimidation and the murder of a witness. The first trial chamber president, Marko Kljajevic, left the process in August 2005. One of the most controversial moments of the process was Ulemek's surrender in May 2004, claiming he had been hiding in his house for nearly 14 months.
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
) is a former commander of the Serbian secret police special unit, the Red Berets (JSO), convicted of the assassinations of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic
Ivan Stambolic
Ivan Stambolić was a Communist Party of Yugoslavia official and the President of the Republic of Serbia in the 1980s who was later victim of an assassination....
and organiser of the attempted murder of the Serbian opposition leader Vuk Draskovic
Vuk Draškovic
Vuk Drašković , leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, is a Serbian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia.He graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School in 1968...
.
He was a member of the notorious Zemun clan
Zemun Clan
The Zemun Clan is one of the Belgrade clans of the Serbian Mafia. The name is based on the base of the clan i.e. Zemun, a municipality of Belgrade....
, one of the Serbian mafia
Serbian mafia
Serbian Organized Crime or Naša Stvar are various criminal organizations based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs in the Serbian Diaspora. Serbian mafiosos are very active in European Union countries...
groups based in Belgrade.
Early and Military history
Milorad was born on March 15, 1965, in Belgrade, to a family of originsSerbs of Croatia
Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
in the village of Pecka, Topusko
Topusko
Topusko is a spa town in Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia.-Demographics:The population of the town of Topusko is 798, with a total of 3,219 people in the municipality . There are 2045 Croats , 954 Serbs and 65 Bosniaks .Prior to the war, there were 1,587 people in Topusko, of which most were Serbs...
, in the region of Kordun
Kordun
The Kordun region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The southern border of Kordun touches the Lika region...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. His father Milan was a sub-Officer
Sub-Officer
Sub-Officer is a term used in many military forces used to indicate ranks below commissioned officers. Sub-Officer is equivalent to the term NCO in the Commonwealth and USA...
in the Yugoslav Army
Yugoslav Army
Aside from the Yugoslav People's Army, the terms Yugoslav Army, Army of Yugoslavia, or Military of Yugoslavia may refer to:* Yugoslav Partisans , the Yugoslav resistance army during World War II...
, while his mother Natalija was a homewife.
Milorad, grew up in New Belgrade, near Hotel Jugoslavija
Hotel Jugoslavija
Hotel Jugoslavija translated in English to Hotel Yugoslavia in Belgrade is one of the oldest luxurious Serbian hotels located in the Novi Beograd municipality....
. He was problematic in his early teens. He finished an auto mechanic
Auto mechanic
An auto mechanic is a mechanic with a variety of car makes or either in a specific area or in a specific make of car. In repairing cars, their main role is to diagnose the problem accurately and quickly...
program and medicine school in Belgrade.
He became friends with Kristijan Golubović
Kristijan Golubovic
Aleksandar "Kristijan" Golubović is a Serbian gangster and Mixed martial artist....
in 1984, and together they made their first "big" robbery. He was given the nickname "Cema" from "cement".
After a botched robbery in 1985, he left for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and on April 10, 1986, he joined the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
where he stayed for 6 years, fighting in: Chad, Libya, Beirut, French Guyana and Iraq. He was given the nom de guerre "Legionnaire" (Legija) because of his military career in the Legion.
He left the French Legion with the Yugoslav Wars in 1992, and joined the Serb Volunteer Guard
Serb Volunteer Guard
The Serb Volunteer Guard also known as Arkan's Tigers was a Serbian volunteer paramilitary unit, founded and led by Željko Ražnatović, that fought in Croatia ; Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Kosovo War ....
under Arkan (Arkan's tigers), becoming one of Arkan's closest friend and commander of the unit. He commanded the "Super Tigrovi" (Super Tigers) special unit which operated in eastern Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
.
The unit was disbanded in April 1996, and all members were ordered to join the Yugoslav Army
Yugoslav Army
Aside from the Yugoslav People's Army, the terms Yugoslav Army, Army of Yugoslavia, or Military of Yugoslavia may refer to:* Yugoslav Partisans , the Yugoslav resistance army during World War II...
, however, in the same year the JSO (Special Operations Unit) was formed, merging the former Serb Guard with the wartime "Red Berets" (The JSO acquired the nickname from the merger), Jovica Stanišić
Jovica Stanišic
Jovica Stanišić is a former head of the State Security Service now BIA within the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. He is facing trial at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his role in the wars in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, head of the State Security Service asked Legija to join the unit. In 1999 he became the leader of the "Red Berets", and became the official commander of "JSO SDB Serbia" in April 2001.
The assassination of Ivan Stambolic
Ivan StambolicIvan Stambolic
Ivan Stambolić was a Communist Party of Yugoslavia official and the President of the Republic of Serbia in the 1980s who was later victim of an assassination....
, former President of Serbia, was kidnapped in August 2000 while out jogging, executed and his body concealed in woodlands. Slobodan Milosevic was believed to have considered Stambolic, his former mentor, a threat to his future political authority. In July 2005 Milorad Ulemek was found guilty of his murder and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment. The sentence also took account of Ulemek's role in the attempted killing of another threat to Milosevic, Vuk Draskovic.
The assassination of Zoran Djindjic
Djindjic, Serbia's first democratically elected leader after the toppling of former Yugoslav President Slobodan MilosevicSlobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
's regime in October 2000, was shot dead outside the Serbian government building on March 12, 2003. Several members of the Red Berets and the criminal group known as the Zemun clan
Zemun Clan
The Zemun Clan is one of the Belgrade clans of the Serbian Mafia. The name is based on the base of the clan i.e. Zemun, a municipality of Belgrade....
were also convicted of his murder.
The Red Berets were used during Milosevic's rule for special operations in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, as well as for the elimination of Milosevic's political opponents.
Djindjic's assassination was described by Presiding Judge Nata Mesarovic as "a political murder, a criminal act aimed against the state", in which police officers and the Mafia had joined hands to kill Djindjic and gain political power.
Ulemek's deputy in the Red Berets, Zvezdan Jovanovic
Zvezdan Jovanovic
Zvezdan Jovanović , also known as Zveki and Zmija assassinated former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić on 12 March 2003....
, was convicted of shooting Djindjic.
The Djindjic murder trial was the first organised crime trial in Serbia. There were threats to the trial chamber, witness intimidation and the murder of a witness. The first trial chamber president, Marko Kljajevic, left the process in August 2005. One of the most controversial moments of the process was Ulemek's surrender in May 2004, claiming he had been hiding in his house for nearly 14 months.
Personal
He married Maja Lukovic in 1994, in the Hotel Majestic (Mažestik) in Belgrade. He took the surname of his wife.Sources
- Biography of Legija (Serbian)
- Profile: Milorad Lukovic, BBC Europe, Last Updated: Monday, 3 May 2004