Long List of Deaths

Branislav Lainovic (1955), a.k.a. Dugi ("Long"), better known in Novi Sad as Lajavi ("Loud Mouth"), was killed on Monday, March 20 at about 4:15 p.m. in front of Hotel Serbia in Ustanicka Street in Belgrade.  As far as is known, Lainovic was waiting for someone in front of a row or kiosks when a young man in a red jacket approached him and shot him three times; two of the shots hit Lainovic in the head, and the assassin fled in the direction of Vojislava Ilica Street.  A little later, when the police had already arrived on the scene, the person who was supposed to meet with Lainovic also showed up.  The news about the assassination quickly reached Novi Sad through official police channels, from which we also learned that Lainovic had been interrogated that day.  If this is true, than this is the second such interrogation in the recent past: the first one took place on March 9th when he was interrogated by the police in Novi Sad; the issue was his possible knowledge of the assassination of Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan.  In any case, this should be viewed as a coincidence.

What is definitely not a coincidence is the fact that since the beginning of this year Lainovic is the fifth victim of an assassination.  First Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan was killed on January 15; then the Defense Minister in the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Pavle Bulatovic was killed on February 7; then Mirko Tomic, a.k.a. Bosnian, was killed on February 13; then Radoslav Bata Trlaja Trlajic, on February 25.  Three of these four assassinations have a political slant, while the Tomic assassination does not have such overtones.  Even cursory statistics indicate that the frequency of a certain kind of assassination is increasing; if the trend continues, Serbia will surpass Columbia and such countries in what they call there "death squads."  If we add to this the uninterrupted wave of violence against the opposition and the independent media - attack on the Otpor activists, on the people guarding the Studio B antenna, and on lawyer Husni Bitici - the picture one gets of Serbia is extremely worrisome.  Who is doing the battering and the killing all across Serbia and in Belgrade since 1991 to today, and all with impunity?  The answer to this should be offered by the police, by prosecutors and the courts, but that answer is still forthcoming.  The assassination of Zeljko Raznatovic, the only case which has been partially solved, is the work of corrupt policemen, which is hardly cause for optimism...

ONE CAREER:  Where does Branislav Lainovic Lajavi come into all this?  This appealing and colorful Montenegrin from Vrbas, a former basketball player, went abroad sometimes in the seventies.  He used to say that he was involved in just about everything, except drugs and prostitution, and that he was the protégé of the late Ljuba Magus Zemunac, whom he admired very much.  People who knew him say that the expression "everything" mostly referred to first and foremost the collection of debts, which he made a fortune on.  The property he left behind is considerable: two hotels, the biggest discotheque in Novi Sad, houses and other property.

At the beginning of 1991, like many other "freelance artists" who smelled money, Lainovic returned to Novi Sad and immediately forged ties with the Serbian Renewal  Movement (SPO) and their paramilitary formation, the Serbian Guard.  He became assistant to Djordje Bozovic Giska, and following his death at Gospic he commanded that odd military formation himself, although it was quickly disbanded or was taken over.  The Serbian Guard took part in some of the fighting in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, and according to witnesses behaved in a correct manner: their name is not associated with war crimes or with looting.

However, at the end of 1992, Lainovic got into trouble in Italy: the local police carried out a raid on a house in Pezzarro where Lainovic was staying with his family; the raid was carried out because of founded suspicions that he was blackmailing someone for a large sum of money.  Lainovic managed to escape through sheer luck and later used to get very insulted whenever this incident was mentioned to him.

After this he settled down in Novi Sad where he entered the hotel business.  It is said that his businesses were mostly intended for laundering money, but there were not lawsuits to prove this, so that such rumors can be taken as expressions of jealousy.  In any case, his future looked bright.  He took care of how he behaved there; when he renovated an old house that he bought there, he also fixed the sewers so that all the neighbors were grateful to him.  He invested his money and made sure to block off access to Novi Sad to various rackets and gangs from Belgrade.  At the end of 1993 he became the target of an assassination: in front of SPENS Center in Novi Sad, someone fired several bullets at him; he barely pulled through, mostly owing to his incredible fitness.  He bragged that he never carries a gun with him, nor wears a bullet proof vest; he frequently went on his own - like he did in Belgrade this week.  However, Novi Sad is a rich town that is interesting for business; if it is true that Lajavi managed to keep greedy racketeers at a distance and had support in this from the local authorities, as is rumored around town, then he must have stepped on many peoples' toes.

In political terms, Lainovic quickly distanced himself from SPO: in one interview he stated that he "did not want to serve under the emblem of the red star, nor is he willing to serve under Danica" (Vuk Draskovic's wife).  In recent years he has been growing closer and closer to the autonomous movement of Vojvodina, which he supported in principle.  He finally voiced his open support for the Movement of Vojvodina, a party that was created out of the Vojvodina Club.  The Vojvodina Movement ran into difficulties because of this as a party with unquestionable moral integrity, so that it was suggested to Lainovic that he can be a regular member, but that he should forget about holding any kind of office.  Lainovic continued to be on good terms with everyone in Novi Sad, to the point that he drove a Mercedes Benz without registration plates for months without the police every stopping him.  At the end of last year he called on the residents of Vojvodina to raise up against this government, but also against the opposition which did not manage to do anything.  Such a political position somehow naturally reflected his business interests and moves: he invested a lot in Novi Sad; his companies got some contracts from the city; he saw his future there.

RISKY JOB:  When he was called by the Novi Sad police for questioning on March 9 regarding whether he had any information relating to the assassination of Zeljko Raznatovic, Lainovic got angry.  He said that he knows nothing about it; then he added: "I understand the pain that the Arkan family finds itself in... but I also know very well the pain he inflicted on others, except that not much was written about it, despite the fact that he directly caused many people in Belgrade to wear black."  After Lainovic's murder, this phrase became the subject of discussion for many aficionados of this particular field of inquiry; it is expected that speculations regarding such attitudes will continue in Belgrade's underworld.  However, one should be a realist in such matters: in this country words are not a reason for which one loses ones life - money, information and power are.

Branislav Lainovic, a.k.a. Dugi and Lajavi ("Long" and "Loud Mouth"), had money, had information and had power.  Thanks to his money he increased and spread his business interests, and in this he stepped on many people's toes; information which he had concerned an entire list of interesting facts about the Serbian Guard, about the lines of command and the control over paramilitary formations between the years 1991 and 1992, as well as about other segments of the police-military-criminal underworld with which he had close contacts, by the nature of his business; as far as power is concerned, he bragged that he could mobilize at least two hundred trained, armed and capable individuals, should the need arise.  In a political context such as the one Serbia finds itself in, where nerves are ever tighter and fears ever increasing, every suggestion of refusing to extend the expected loyalty to the regime and to its basic policies on the part of former paramilitary leaders and fighters is an issue that is weighty, to say the least.  Whoever doubts this should take a look at what percentage of those killed in these kinds of assassinations was in possession of information relating to the wars between 1990 and 1999, or to anything related to this...

Therefore, death has a stronghold on Serbia; Branislav Lainovic is merely the latest victim.  How many people should get killed on sidewalks in order for this government to wake up and to take action?  One answer is this: many people, because when everyone gets killed who should get killed, then this question will in any case become meaningless...  However, cynicism is hardly any help in a situation like this.  Extended violence, especially political violence, has a cumulative effect: every new act of violence merely instills a greater sense of uncertainty in a society which is gripped by it already.  This accumulation of uncertainty and fear will sooner or later lead to greater violence: one day someone will be more likely to draw a gun in self defense, instead of ending up like lawyer Bitici or Branislav Lainovic; what will happen then?  Will it once again turn out that corrupt policemen are to blame, like in Raznatovic's assassination?  In Belgrade there are already rumors that the whereabouts of masked thugs who beat up demonstrators is known; what will happen if it is possible to make positive identifications?  It is last call for this regime to put a stop to the chain of violence, for the regime is the only capable of something like that, otherwise further developments will become extremely unpredictable and dangerous for everyone.