SERBIA: Serbian police said yesterday they had found the remains of President Ivan Stambolic, and that he was executed by special police shortly before the ousting of his ally-turned-foe, Mr Slobodan Milosevic.
The Serbian Interior Minister, Mr Dusan Mihajlovic, said the murder of Mr Stambolic, who disappeared mysteriously while jogging in Belgrade in August 2000, was politically motivated and that police would question Mr Milosevic and his wife.
He said Mr Stambolic had been abducted by four members of the elite police Unit for Special Operations (JSO) which was set up during Mr Milosevic's turbulent rule and that they had been arrested.
Mr Stambolic was one of the most prominent victims in a series of mafia-style killings and kidnappings that marked the final years of Mr Milosevic's decade in power.
Mr Milosevic, once Mr Stambolic's favourite associate and family friend, turned his back on his mentor and cut him out of Serbian politics in 1987.
Serbian police investigating the murder of the Serbian prime minister, Mr Zoran Djindjic, shot dead two of the gangster bosses believed to have ordered the assassination this month, the government said.