Belgrade
Serbian authorities have charged former dictator Slobodan Milosevic with the murder of former Serbian president Ivan Stambolic, his one-time friend. Stambolic was Milosevics political mentorand even stood as best man at his weddinguntil the late 1980s, when Milosevic began agitating for Serbian expansionism. In 2000, after the Balkan wars, Stambolic was preparing to challenge Milosevic in the race for Yugoslav president when he disappeared. Police found his body last month while investigating the more recent assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. The dictator, deposed in a popular uprising shortly after Stambolic was killed, is currently in The Hague standing trial for crimes against humanity.
