<nettime> *target* Vuk Draskovic survived assassination attempt again

[Zvonimir Bakotin <zone@Desk.nl>]

hmm first serbian summer without war around, boring? 
nono, state terrorism eats it's own yesterdays marionets,
Serbian controversal opposition leader Vuk Draskovic
gains his second bonus to survive assassination in 
less than year.

z

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 11:10:10 +0200
From: karel dudesek <dudesek@vis-med.ac.at>
To: Zvonimir Bakotin <zone@Desk.nl>
Subject: pnn

Serb opposition leader recovering after
assassination attempt

June 16, 2000
Web posted at: 4:06 a.m. EDT (0806 GMT)

        BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Serbian
        opposition leader Vuk Draskovic was shot
        and lightly wounded late Thursday at his
        apartment in Budva, Montenegro, one of
        his top party officials told CNN.

        The official said Draskovic was treated
        and released from a hospital in Kotor, a
        coastal town in Yugoslavia's smaller,
        pro-Western republic.

        The wounds, he said, were not
        life-threatening. Draskovic was reported to
        have been struck in the head and one ear.

        "Just before midnight, a new assassination
        attempt was made on Vuk Draskovic.
        Several volleys were fired through the window 
        of his house in Budva," said Milena Popovic, 
        head of the press office of Draskovic's Serbian 
        Renewal Movement. Draskovic was at his vacation 
        home on the Montenegrin coast.

        More than one man entered the apartment and 
        started shooting, sources said. Draskovic tried 
        to protect himself behind a table. One source 
        said Draskovic had managed to hide somewhere in 
        the apartment and later escaped.

        An adviser to Draskovic said the attack appeared
        to have been carried out with an automatic
        weapon; the apartment was riddled with bullets.

        Draskovic reportedly was in his apartment alone at 
        the time of the shooting. His wife later joined him 
        at the hospital.

        There is no indication of who was responsible for 
        the attack or why it occurred. No one has been 
        accused in connection with it.

        The charismatic opposition leader, who claims the 
        most support among opposition leaders in Yugoslavia's 
        dominant republic Serbia, has alleged the government 
        tried to kill him last year in a road accident that 
        killed four close aides. Officials from Yugoslav 
        President Slobodan Milosevic's government have
        denied those charges.

        Draskovic regularly accuses the authorities of "state 
        terror" over last year's car crash, in which he was 
        slightly injured.

        Officials have denied having anything to do with the 
        incident, in which a truck carrying sand veered into 
        two cars carrying Draskovic and his friends.

        Police say they have not been able to find the driver 
        or owner of the truck.

        The shooting on Thursday follows a string of mysterious 
        assassinations of officials and underworld figures in 
        Belgrade.

        Earlier this month Goran Zugic, the security adviser to 
        Montenegro's pro-Western President Milo Djukanovic was 
        gunned down in front of his home in Podgorica shortly 
        before two key local elections.

        Milosevic's government blames Western agents it says are 
        intend on destroying, then occupying Serbia.

        In January Zeljko Raznatovic, known as Arkan and Serbia's 
        most famous warlord, was killed in Belgrade. One month 
        later Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic was shot dead in a 
        restaurant in the Yugoslav capital.

        The government has cracked down on dissent this year, 
        accusing Draskovic and other opposition leaders of 
        "terrorism."

        Earlier this month the government took of the television 
        station in Belgrade which Draskovic runs through his 
        party's leadership of the city council.

        It also took over the public transport service in the
        city after opposition activists urged Draskovic to use 
        the buses to blockade government buildings.

        A few days later Draskovic's bodyguards were arrested for 
        carrying guns when they came to get him at the Belgrade 
        airport after a visit to Russia.


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