Stambolic's Abduction: Everybody Knows Who, but not the Reason Why?

AIM Podgorica, September 1, 2000

(From Aim Correspondent from Belgrade)

Ivan Stambolic, former President of the Presidency of SR Serbia and Milosevic's last boss, left his apartment in Kosutnjak suburb on Friday, August 25, around 9,00 a.m. and went to the nearby trim track for his usual morning running. After that every track of him is lost. His neighbours say that on that morning, just like several previous ones, an unidentified white van was parked in front of the house of sixty-four years old politician. Tenants of the building in which the Stambolic family lives remember seeing several arrogant young men with a crew cut in their entrance hall around the time when Stambolic disappeared. Everybody thought that they belonged to "some kind of police", which was in some kind of inspection because of the nearby "Diplomatic Settlement". Mihalj Kertes lives there, for example.

When Stambolic left the building, the white van followed him, say Stambolic's neighbours. When, even after three hours Ivan Stambolic did not return home nor appeared at the previously scheduled meeting from which he was supposed to travel to Guca village fair, the family called the police. The police answered that "it was not their case". Only around six p.m., at the insistence of Stambolic's son did the police agree to officially register his disappearance. Ignoring this fact, the daily "Politika Ekspres" wrote that it was strange that the family had reported that Stambolic was missing as late as 6,00 p.m. when they knew that he often went running in the morning.

After that the police searched the Kosutnjak forest. The "Politika" daily wrote that some 300 policemen took part in the search. Even bloodhounds were brought, but nothing was found. Still, the watchman on the parking lot of "Golf" restaurant told the police that he saw Stambolic sitting on a nearby bench around 10,00 a.m. After that, the white van stopped next to where Stambolic was sitting. When the van left, Stambolic was no longer on the bench. That was all the watchman could say.

Ever since the investigation carried out on the day of Stambolic's disappearance, the police officially has not said a word about further investigation. On August 29, the Belgrade daily "Danas" quoted an unnamed source from the Information Service of the Belgrade Police Department saying that an intensive investigation was being carried out and that Stambolic's disappearance was its priority case. Nevertheless, the Danas' source had nothing new to add, but said that the police would issue its official statement only after the investigation was concluded. The "Politika" of August 31, "discovered" that there was a witness who told the police that on the "Golf" parking lot he saw one of the two men from the white vehicle(for "which he couldn't say with certainty whether it was a van or not"), pointing a gun to Stambolic's head and forcing him into the vehicle.

Both the "Politika" and the "Politika Ekspres" pointed out that Stambolic was active in the banking business "in which millions in foreign currency changed hands". "At the same time, that is why there is good reason to assume that maybe some of his business partners, which Stambolic had plenty of, both abroad and in the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro, had a hand in this kidnapping", wrote the "Politika Ekspres". According to the "Politika", on the day of his disappearance Stambolic was planning to go to Guca with a Director of a large RS firm. The "Politika" also wrote that Stambolic worked as a consultant in the Belgrade representation office of the London firm "Mosteo" in charge of concluding contracts in the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro.

Stambolic's wife Katarina told the daily "Blic" that he was leading a pensioner's life and had no firm registered in his name, because he "knew what kind of country he was living in".

After he was released as President of the Serbian Presidency in November 1987, Ivan Stambolic became Director of the Yugoslav Bank for International Economic Cooperation (YUBMES). This bank worked on granting credits for import-export operations in former SFRY. Its founders were 182 enterprises from all Yugoslav Republics. The bank barely survived for years after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, but kept its own USD 360 million worth capital and had no debts. In 1997 the Federal Assembly adopted a law according to which YUBMES had 90 days to carry out transformation in line with the valid FRY regulations or to be dissolved. It was reckoned that it was an impossible mission since a common language had to be found with shareholders from all former Yugoslav Republics, while the Bank's Headquarters were in Belgrade. Stambolic managed to reach an agreement with shareholders from all Yugoslav Republics except for those from Croatia, which was enough for YUBMES to survive. Then, just a few days before the shareholders' convention, the federal authorities carried out coup d'etat and convened a parallel assembly to which they did not invite shareholders outside FRY to it. In this way FRY seized funds that did not belong to it, and appointed for new Director Miodrag Zecevic, the then President of the French-Yugoslav Bank and one of many bankers unconditionally loyal to Milosevic.

After this Ivan Stambolic retired. He took advantage of his long-standing connections with influential people all over former Yugoslavia and the Balkans, and started working as a mediator. Actually, Stambolic only mutually introduced interested businessmen and did not demand high fees for that service. He did not take part in the definition of contractual details, nor attend the making of deals. Those well-versed say that he did not owe anyone anything, nor anyone owed him anything. The activities he engaged in after his retirement could hardly provide a motive for abduction. Nevertheless, the "Politika" claimed that the investigation would be going in precisely that direction. Should motives be looked for in YUBMES? Perhaps, if Stambolic knew something that could one day cost some of the usurpers years of prison. But, nothing is known for certain about that either.

In other words, it is practically out of the question that the abduction of Ivan Stambolic had anything to do with money. Opposition public is unanimous in its claim that motives of his abduction are of political nature. Vuk Draskovic insists that the motive was to stop Stambolic from running for office at the pending presidential elections. "Milosevic's headquarters have certainly found out that several dozen thousand signatures have been collected all around Serbia for Stambolic's nomination and that they mostly belonged to members of the Socialist Party of Serbia", said Draskovic to the Belgrade daily "Glas javnosti" (Public Voice). Allegedly, Stambolic was to be nominated by a group of citizens.

After the Eighth Session, Ivan Stambolic withdrew from politics, but not from public life. He spoke back in 1991 when the war started, then in 1992 to support the students' protest. Three years later, together with late Slobodan Inic, he published a book entitled "Road to Hinterland" describing the end of his political career. He was active in the European Movement in Serbia and in the Forum for Ethnic Relations. Lately, he frequently talked to the media.

He spoke about the breakdown of the regime at the elections if the opposition united, praised "Otpor", but also anticipated that Milosevic would try to keep the power at all costs. A piece of news about Stambolic's possible involvement in the Alliance for Change appeared in July. Nevertheless, Stambolic's wife denied that he contemplated returning to politics. Goran Svilanovic, President of the Civil Alliance of Serbia, said for the Novi Sad radio station Radio 021 that the disappearance of Ivan Stambolic had nothing to do with the current pre-electoral situation. He claimed that Stambolic did not want to run for office at presidential elections and that that story was fabricated "just to explain something like this". Svilanovic was convinced that his disappearance had nothing to do with Stambolic's political ambitions, and that the Chief of State Security Service should be asked about the reasons of his abduction.

Others think that the reason is simply the intention to intimidate the people before the elections. Zarko Korac, President of the Social-Democratic Union (SDU), which organised a panel in Belgrade several days ago in connection with the Stambolic case, says that with Stambolic's disappearance the regime wanted to send a clear message to unlike-minded people - Beware what you say and do! In his opinion, a narrow circle of people around the top political ranks see the forthcoming elections as the question of survival, and that is why all means are allowed. But, Korac himself says: "If anyone wanted to intimidate us with this kidnapping, he has made a terrible mistake". It is certain that Stambolic's disappearance has frightened some people, but on the other hand it only increased the resolve of the most consistent regime opponents.

Professor Vojin Dimitrijevic from the Belgrade Human Rights Centre, is probably right when he says that we should not speculate at all about motives for the kidnapping of Ivan Stambolic. He thinks that the circumstances which irrefutably point to the involvement of the regime in Stambolic's disappearance are much more important. "It was characteristic of Latin America for the state to play dumb when people disappeared. This is a development in that direction which is happening according in proportion with the intensification of repression because intimidation no longer works. The case of Ivan Stambolic is characteristic by the fact that the police is not saying anything", said Professor Dimitrijevic at the SDU panel.

Officially, the police is still saying nothing, and in the first five days the state media did not report a thing on the disappearance of the former President of Serbia and Slobodan Milosevic's last boss. Then on Wednesday, August 30, dailies of the journalistic-publishing house "Politika" started with insinuations that this was a "mafia showdown" claiming that the investigation was progressing and that new witnesses have been found. Later on, the "Vecernje novosti" joined in. No one informed either Stambolic's family or his lawyer about such progress of the police investigation. On August 28, the daily "Danas" wrote that Stambolic's family got in touch with the police General Branko Djuric, who gave them a phone number at which he could be reached at all times. Unfortunately, the family informed journalists about this number who dialled it immediately and, naturally, a female voice on the other end of the line answered that it was a wrong number. Katarina Stambolic told the "Blic" that the family was not going to write to Slobodan Milosevic, Milan Milutinovic nor the Police Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic. "They know that Ivan, who is a citizen of this country, is missing and that they should react", said Stambolic's wife.

Apart from the abductors, no one knows whether Ivan Stambolic is still alive. Also, no one knows why he was abducted. The only thing known is that it couldn't have happened without the permission and knowledge of the top brass. Kidnapping of a man who dragged Slobodan Milosevic along with him to the very top of the power ladder and just a month before the elections scheduled for September 24, on the thirteenth anniversary of the Eighth Session, is a prime political event. Especially when taking into account that it is quite possible for the regime to lose the elections. It is highly unlikely that the regime felt threatened by a possibility of disappointed Socialists rallying around Stambolic before or at the very elections. He surrendered without fighting already 13 years ago and abandoned politics. He was simply too naive for that profession. It is also highly improbable that anything Stambolic knows and didn't tell the regime until now, could harm the regime before the elections. Just consider what sorts of monstrosities the citizens of Serbia know about the regime, but that didn't move it for an inch. Perhaps it is something personal. But the regime's time for settling accounts, even those deeply private, is irreversibly running out.

Zoran B. Nikolic

(AIM)