Persons and Property

In that general, October nervousness and sudden onset of justice, segments of the opposition-until-yesterday and the suddenly enlightened state media were scandalized by the fact that the same people who used to physically protect Slobodan Milosevic are now continuing the same job in providing security for President Kostunica, as if something contagious is at stake.  There is nothing virulent in this.  The fact that Milosevic is alive and in good health suggests that these lads are real professionals.  In any case, there job suddenly got a lot easier…

According to the inherited system from the former Yugoslavia, “security of persons and property” is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP).  On the federal level, this particular office was called the VI Directorate, while on the level of the republics, the responsible office was part of the Republican Service of Internal Affairs, with special units for securing persons and property (JLO).  These units perform their duties under cover, as well as in uniform, and when it is felt that personal security requires extra reinforcements, they are requested from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.  In strictly professional terms, this very ancient skill was developed to perfection under Josip Broz Tito.

As soon as he took power in Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic concentrated his attention on his own security and on the restful sleep of his family.  He took Senta Milenkovic who is reputed for being a top security man.  At the beginning, the Family walked around without any special protection.  But the growing, carefully staged paranoia would eventually lead to absurd situations.  Already in 1992 Mirjana Markovic, who until that time used to walk alone in the street, began using a bullet proof BMW limousine, while an entourage of very seedy looking people cropped up under the guise of “security” around Marko and Marija Milosevic.  When the series of those typical Belgrade murders turned into a normal happening, bodyguards became a fashionable thing and a sign of prestige.  The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs Department for Protecting Persons and Property must have tripled its personnel since 1990: suddenly everyone had a bodyguard with a badge and proper papers, from Vojislav Seselj to the colorful Director of the state media house Politika.  Muscular lads with trim cuts and leather jackets were shivering in front of the apartments of Gorica Gajevic, Goran Matic, Nikola Sainovic and the remainder of what was generally understood as the Family.  These lads hardly had an easy time of it, but this was certainly better than shivering at the foot of Bihac and Trnovo…  In the end, things reached comical proportions, with smoke screen fabricators, headed by Goran Matic, began discovering conspiracies against the Leader at every step, only adding to the far gone paranoia in the Family itself.  Ose (Wasp), Pauk (Spider), Otpor (Ressistance), were all out there just to complicate Mirjana Markovic’s live and to make Goran Matic less interesting.  Even the unfortunate painter from Valjevo, Maki, was perceived as a threat against the Family.

However, it appears that there was no real danger; the worst thing that could happen were verbal attacks and heckling on the street and in restaurants, and during the 1996-1997 winter protests, there were concerts for whistles and pans were organized under the windows of the select.  Senta Milenkovic, who got to the rank of Police Major General and Chief of a fairly large unit that was merely in charge of protecting Slobodan Milosevic, hardly had an easy time of it.  His boss had ideas: once in 1992, the two of them had a car accident because of fast driving in a regular passenger car at night and without additional escort – all of which goes against the rules of that profession.

At the point when the period of the cult of personality had definitely taken root, a special law on the rights of the Serbian President was passed in parliament.  According to this law, the former chief of state has a right to

lifelong security protection, to lifelong limousine services, a certain number of employees, and a few other perks on the side.  This is by no means something that falls under local customs: similar privileges are stipulated in countries where politicians do not stay in power for life.  This law is relatively general and loose, and is based on legal paragraphs which will stipulate details at a later time.  Circumstances of eventual criminal charges and attending consequences are not foreseen, nor is lifetime immunity.  Probably no one dared even imagine such eventualities at the time that this law was drawn up…

The new governments of Serbia and Yugoslavia are now facing the legal implications of this law.  In what was understandable concern after October 5, Slobodan Milosevic was removed to a location which Zoran Djindjic described as “a facility that is being protected by the Army, where the facility is being protected, and not he himself.”  He goes on to explain that this is also not house arrest, given that Slobodan Milosevic was hardly given to taking walks.  Until this problem finally gets solved, it seems that General Milenkovic’s team will still continue to guard Slobodan Milosevic.  His men are employees of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (despite the fact that the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs has its own people for protecting federal officials – it seems that Senta is irreplaceable).  Beside this, there are rumors among policemen that Milosevic’s security men were at one point removed from the ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and were assigned to the Serbian Presidency, which if it is true, only makes the whole matter that much more complicated.

There are only two ways out of this situation: one is that the new governments of Serbia and Yugoslavia can resolve this problem through legal acts, as is the custom in all normal countries, given that former heads of state, especially ones like this, do need protection.  The other way out, should the new authorities find basis for filing criminal charges, then the whole issue become irrelevant, because the whole matter will be passed on to the Ministry of Justice for consideration.