Two Kostunica aides held over Serbian PM's assassination

Senior security aides of Yugoslavia's former president Vojislav Kostunica have been arrested in connection with the assassination of the Serbian prime minister, Zoran Djindjic.

The two arrests are the first from Mr Kostunica's inner circle and lend a marked political edge to the crackdown on organised crime launched after the murder a month ago.

A government statement yesterday said that Aco Tomic, Mr Kostunica's military intelligence chief, and Rade Bulatovic, the ex-president's head of security, had been detained because of meetings they had held last December with the underworld bosses and paramilitary leaders accused of the assassination.

Mr Kostunica denounced the claims as a settling of political accounts under the guise of a crackdown on crime.

As a result of information obtained from the detention of some 7,000 people under state of emergency rules, the Serbian government claims that Djindjic's murder was the central element in an abortive coup d'etat aimed at restoring loyalists of Slobodan Milosevic to power.

Belgrade analysts agreed that the government of the new prime minister, Zoran Zivkovic, appeared to be taking advantage of the draconian regulations to secure political gains and tarnish the opposition.

"I don't believe those two [Kostunica aides] were involved in a coup plot, but they are hated by the Djindjic camp," said a well-informed source in Belgrade.

"This is revenge, an attempt to eliminate Kostunica for good."

A government statement said the investigation into the Djindjic murder "has revealed important evidence of meetings and agreements between the main organisers of the assassination" and Mr Tomic and Mr Bulatovic.

Mr Kostunica hit back, saying: "The tragedy of Djindjic's assassination and the state of emergency are being used for a crackdown against political opponents."

Yugoslavia was formally dissolved earlier this year, putting Mr Kostunica out of a job. But he remains highly popular in Serbia and could rout the new prime minister, Mr Zivkovic, if elections were held.

Mr Kostunica's party has been highly critical of the state of emergency under which the media is subject to severe curbs and anyone can be held without charge and recourse to a lawyer for 30 days.

While western countries are worried that civil liberties are being eroded, Washington is eager to allow the government to complete its crackdown on crime and to purge the administration of Milosevic loyalists.

"The polls show a clear majority behind the sweeps and the purges. We're keeping an eye on things, but we don't hear too many complaints," a western diplomat said.

Of the 7,000 people detained, 2,700 remain in custody and 700 are to be put on trial for various offences, raising severe challenges for the corrupt and ramshackle Serbian justice system.

The man said to have fired the sniper rifle which killed Djindjic on March 12 is said by police to have confessed to the murder, not for financial gain but "out of conviction" that Djindjic was "unpatriotic" in sending Serbs to the war crimes tribunal in the Hague.