Nach dem Mord an Zoran Djindjić: Serbien entdeckt die Größe seines führenden Reformpolitikers
After the Djindjić Assassination: Serbia Discovers the Value of its Leading Reform Politician

Summary/Abstract: After the tragic assassination of the Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic the country experienced a surprising movement of sympathy. The charismatic politician hasn’t been loved when he was still alive but was regarded with scepticism by the majority of the population. At the same time he was an excellent PR-salesman for Serbia touring in foreign countries. He became famous worldwide as the manager of the Milosevic-fall and this decisive role brings him into the history books. He showed big courage when he turned Milosevic over to the UN-tribunal in Den Haag in summer 2001. But after this event the power-game with his main opponent, the Yugoslavian President Vojislav Kostunica, dominated the political scene. Djindjic was more and more criticised because of his political manoeuvres to get rid of Kostunica and to avoid new elections. Because of his vision of bringing Serbia closer to the EU, most politicians in western capitals, especially in Germany, closed their eyes to what he did and went on to regard him as a guarantee for reforms in Serbia. In spring 2003, Djindjic seemed to be on top of his power-position. Kostunica lost his state office and the Serbian radical leader Vojislav Seselj went to Den Haag. But the murder of the main Serbian politician sets a light on the fundamental faults he made in the last years of reform. He didn’t cut the criminal-political network of Organised Crime and security forces since the Milosevic-time. It will take quite a while to analyse which connections Djindjic himself had to these circles, which are now suspected to have organised the murder. For young people, however, Djindjic was the main figure of hope and progress, as the first days of shock and grief especially among the youth showed. The tragic murder could turn into a chance, if now the government fights seriously against these dirty structures and their political involvement. Only then it could bring to Serbia the long-expected change of elite.

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