Crime-Terror Alliances and the State: Ethnonationalist and Islamist Challenges to Regional Security by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Freedom, Law Enforcement, Political Science, Terrorism
ISBN: 9780415506489
Google: vFNwrdnzQq0C
Goodreads: 13711366
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

The traumatic divorce between the state and the crime networks

Being asked to denounce or disown her friends “Legija” (Milorad Lukovic) and “Siptar” (Dušan Spasojević, head of the Zemun clan), two of Arkan’s associates, pop star Ceca Ražnatović – who married Arkan in 1995 – replied: “I am not a coward. These friendships have lasted for more than ten years. They didn’t start yesterday. Do you understand me? They’re not recent friendships – where I made a mistake.” Ceca had recently met with Legija and Siptar in public, both of them involved in the 2003 assassination of Prime Minister Djindjić.42

Ceca’s reply could be used as a metaphor for the traumatic divorce between the Serb state and its long-lasting criminal friendships. The separation was difficult because the two structures – those of the state and those of the crime networks –had been interwoven for more than a decade. Was a separation possible at all? Events of the first decade of the twenty-first century show that the goal was attainable but at a very high price.

Milošević’s removal from power in October 2000 was not an achievement of the Belgrade citizenry alone. Rather “the coup” was prepared by state structures, helping to guarantee its success. The deal was simple and reasonable. The opposition leaders would be supported in their contest of election results. Once in office, however, the former opposition was expected to prevent extradition of indicted war criminals to The Hague. Thus Jovica Stanišic, head of Serb state security, allegedly played an important role by assuring the police and army’s neutrality toward popular protest.43 Stanišic was not alone. Numerous media reports say that Milorad Lukovic – Legija – a high-ranking criminal, a former member of Arkan’s Tigers, and a provisional commander of the Red Berets, was asked by Zoran Djindjić to cooperate in the ousting of Milošević. Legija was reportedly promised the consent of the RDB and the Red Berets in exchange for state protection against extraditions of indicted war criminals to The Hague.44

How much did the opposition succeed in implementing its plans for reforms of the state structures? The government of Prime Minister Djindjić placed a high priority on the fight against organized crime and corruption. However, the pace of reform was slow and the process was compromised. One reason was that most high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Interior, the RDB, and the Customs Bureau stayed in office and destroyed much of their archives, thereby destroying records of the Milošević regime’s criminal and terror activities.

The RDB, for example, was abolished by the Parliament in July 2002. Its place was taken by a new institution, the Information Agency, whose tasks included intelligence and counter-intelligence. It was placed under the government’s direct control rather than under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, former home of the RDB. Critics argue that this agency’s reform was a failure because many of its high-ranking employees retained their links with the leading underworld clans.45

But most importantly, the government was either unwilling or unable to launch radical reforms because it remained hostage to the crime networks.

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