Knowledge and Death

On August 3 at about 10 p.m., on the parking lot in front of No. 15 John Kennedy Street in New Belgrade, Momir Gavrilovic, age 42, was murdered from shots fired by unknown assailants.  The next day the papers printed brief reports to the effect that the murderer fled in a gray Mercedes Benz with Belgrade license plates, with initial numbers BG 444...  In some of these newspaper reports, claims were even made that the victim was a member of the "Vozdovac Clan."

On August 6, newspapers expanded their reports under headlines "Former Police Colonel Murdered" with information that Gavrilovic used to be a commander of a special unit during wartime between 1991 and 1995 in Eastern Slavonia.  Readers from Belgrade's suburb of Vozdovac began to write letters to the effect that Gavrilovic had nothing to do with the Vozdovac Clan and that he was on the other side.  The media also wrote that "Gavrilovic was a fearless fighter," that there were several assailants in his murder and that he was "an actor in an affair of the State Security Service section of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia," as well as one of the guests at Arkan's wedding.

WHAT THE STATE SECURITY SERVICE DID NOT RELEASE:  On August 7 there was general silence in the newspapers regarding Gavrilovic.  That day the State Security Service called a press conference.  State Security Service Chief Goran Petrovic did not even mention Gavrilovic at that press conference, but evidently prepared answers to eventual questions, given that the police did not issue any statements regarding the murder for full four days, leaving reporters to speculate and to amass details.  At the same time, the State Security Service Chief noted at the beginning of his meeting with reporters that this is not a State Security Service press conference, but rather a press conference for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the better part of which is on vacation, and that as a result he cannot offer any detailed information.  When asked what the Ministry of Internal Affairs knows about the victim, Chief Petrovic read out chosen details from Gavrilovic's personal file: he worked for the State Security Service from 1979 to 1999, worked at Belgrade offices of the State Security Service, as well as in Urosevac and Sombor.  "I worked with Gavrilovic for twelve years and knew that he had no intention of coming back to the Service with which he ceased all contact," Chief Petrovic stated, stressing that the motive for the murder is being investigated, that is to say that the investigation is being conducted and that there is no information regarding contacts between FRY President Kostunica's advisors and the murder victim.

The State Security Service Chief did not report interesting information about Gavrilovic.  For instance, that he took part in fighting beginning in 1991 under the pseudonym Colonel Peric (a rank he probably got in the police of the Ministry of Defense of Krajina), that he was a commander of local units in Slavonia and a security advisor to Milan Martic, that he left the State Security Service because he took part in an affair which his colleagues associate with Petrovic's argument with Gavrilovic in which the latter kicked the former in the behind and was want to retell the event in jolly company.

"Gavrilovic had direct access to Jovica Stanisic [Milosevic's Chief of the State Security Service - e.d.], above and beyond Petrovic, who was his superior and who did not like this in the least bit.  Stanisic directly gave Gavrilovic sensitive information to which no one else had access.  He was simply a man who could carry a lot," Gavrilovic's former colleagues tell, adding that he left the State Security Service when he was told in no uncertain terms what is his job and what isn't.  VREME's sources indicate that Gavrilovic was being watched, that his phones were tapped and that State Security Service employees followed him.  He informed his wife of this after his second sojourn to President Kostunica's cabinet, where he went a total of three times.  He liked to tell his friends about his visits to the FRY President, but never said anything about what he talked about on those occasions.

THE MAN THAT KNEW TOO MUCH:  There is very good reason to suspect that Momir Gavrilovic was murdered because he revealed information about the connection between crime and people who are presently in power.  He was in possession of incrimination information because of the many years he spent working for the State Security Service, because he mingled with various groups and because he kept good contacts with his colleagues in the police.  However, according to VREME's sources, Gavrilovic was not in possession of documents proving the connection between government officials and the crime world that he could submit to advisors of FRY President Kostunica.  Instead of that he gave a written plan of the restructuring of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the people in the cabinet of FRY President Kostunica.

The people who knew Momir Gavrilovic well are unanimous in their opinion that he was a man who could hardly be said to have been gentle while on duty.  As an example they tell that whenever he made arrests of "questionable individuals" he was want to use black plastic bags which he pulled over their heads before shoving them into a vehicle.  "The bags were only one of his methods," his former colleagues from the State Security Service indicate, avoiding to mention others.  It is well known that former Chief of the State Security Service, Jovic Stanisic, ordered him to clear the unwanted squatters at the outdoor flea market in New Belgrade, squatters of Rumanian, Gypsy and Bulgarian nationality who were living near the marina where many luxury boats owned by the heads of the former State Security Service were docked.  Gavrilovic carried out Stanisic's order in record time in manner that is only known by those who fled in a hurry, without any opportunity to complain to anyone.

Momir Gavrilovic used to hang out on a daily basis at Café Knez whose owner is his best man.  His two luxury sports ware boutiques were supposedly not bringing in too much money.  He ran these boutiques with a colleague from the State Security Service.

The long silence that the police is maintaining on Gavrilovic's murder is not unusual and it is quite clear that the Ministry of Internal Affairs wanted to brush this murder under the rug.  In the same way as when over a month ago the mutilated body of a former member of the Special Operations Unit (JSO) was found in the outskirts of Belgrade.  At the mentioned press conference the State Security Service Chief was asked what was happening regarding this case.  The unwillingly offered response was laconic and incomplete: Goran Petrovic confirmed the story reported, but stated that the former member of the Special Operations Unit did not have any contact with the State Security Service since leaving his Unit and that "his death is unrelated to his activities while he was a member of the JSO."  The identity of this victim was not revealed.  By the way, the murdered member of the Special Operations Unit supposedly had a nylon bag on his head and his face was mutilated.

Be that as it may, it is not realistic to expect that the murdered of Momir Gavrilovic will ever be discovered.  This is especially to be expected given that past murders of prominent politicians, policemen, ministers and businessmen still remain unsolved.  More than anything else, the police does not have qualified people who could deal with organized crime of the sort that is only possible with government approval.