Death Is a Contagious Disease

by Uros Komlenovic

Branislav Grebenarevic, 20, was killed on Wednesday, March 27, around 7:15 p.m., in a Belgrade suburb called Bezanijska Kosa. Grebenarevic, who had survived several assassination attempts prior to his death, was visiting his parents with a friend, Zoran Subara, 23, when the incident occurred.

Grebenarevic and Subara, known as tough guys on the streets of Belgrade, were just leaving with their Volkswagen Corrado passenger vehicle when two assailants appeared from a nearby kiosk and opened fire on them. They ambushed their target from both sides of the vehicle and caught Grebenarevic and Subara in a crossfire from almost point blank range. They fired 40 rounds into the two, most probably from Yugoslav-made kalashnikov automatic rifles. Several rounds hit the nearby vehicles.

The vehicle stopped some ten metres further and caught fire, but Grebenarevic and Subara were already dead. Their bulletproof vests could not save them, as they were shot from close range. Both of them were shot several times in the head also.

Bransilav Grebenarevic's police record dates back to the times when he was a teenager, and he was a regular character in crime chronicles over the past few years. He first made a name for himself after he and Nemanja Ristovic had a gunfight with Sredoje Sljukic and Srdjan Adzemovic in a Vozdovac fitness centre back in 1994. Sjlukic and Adzemovic were eminent members of the Zvezdara and Bulbuder clans. A 19-year old girl was killed in the shooting. Tanja Nikolic made a fatal error when she decided to sit together with Sljukic and his companions.

Grebenarevic and Subara survived an assassination attempt last summer. They had bulletproof vests and were only slightly wounded. Last October, someone planted a bomb next to the wall of his grandparents' home while he was visiting them with his girlfriend, but once again he escaped with minor injuries. After that, Grebenarevic moved out and went to Hungary for a while. He thought that would discourage his enemies, but even there his pursuants were hot on his heels.

He was not forgotten in Belgrade either. He was a member of the Vozdovac clan, rallied around the late Gorab Vukovic, who was murdered in similar fashion outside the Yugoslav drama theatre two years ago.

Grebenarevic's specialties still remain a mystery (rumours have it that he was allegedly involved in drug dealing), but he obviously stepped on someone's toes. He was one of the youngest "heroes" of the documentary "See You in the Obituary", made after the book "Crime that Changed Serbia" by Aleksandar Knezevic and Vojislav Tufegdzic. Grebenarevic is the fifth character interviewed for the film to be killed so far.

Many people attended his funeral, the most conspicuous being young and bald teenagers who arrived in luxury vehicles. They crossed themselves about ten times and muttered something about revenge, but there were no avenging tunes in the few obituaries which came up in the daily newspapers.