[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 45 (Thursday, March 20, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4155-S4156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ASSASSINATION OF SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER ZORAN DJINDJIC

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise to honor a man of courage, 
conviction and integrity who was recently taken from his people and 
this world in the most brutal and shocking of circumstances.
  On Wednesday, March 12, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was 
slain in Belgrade, assassinated, gunned down, leaving his Belgrade 
office. He was, tragically, only 50 years old, and was taken from us 
long before his time. To his wife Rizica and his two young children, 
Jovana and Luka, I extend my deepest condolences.
  I had the pleasure of meeting Prime Minister Djindjic in 2001, during 
a visit to Belgrade. He was best known to Americans and the 
international community for his central role in the downfall of former 
Yugoslav dictator, Slobodan Milosevic, in October 2000. It was Djindjic 
who, in 2001, took the principled decision to render Milosevic to the 
War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, where he is at this moment facing 
trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.
  It was this courage, this stand for integrity, that won Prime 
Minister Djindjic not only the respect of the internation community, 
but the love and admiration of the people of Serbia, whom he helped to 
free from the grips of dictatorship, oppression, and cruelty.
  Prime Minister Djindjic was someone who fought for the needs of his 
people. He devoted his life to the fight for progress, reform, and 
democracy, and a better life for the people of Serbia. Ultimately, he 
gave his life for that fight.

[[Page S4156]]

  He was imprisoned for his activities as a student dissident against 
the repressive Communist Yugoslav regime in the 1970s, but this did not 
diminish his zeal. In 1989, Djindjic, along with a group of dissident 
writers and intellectuals, founded the Serbian Democratic Party. One 
year later, he was elected its chairman, and in 1994, its president. In 
the 1990s, as a member and a leader of Serbia's Parliament, he remained 
at the forefront of the dissident movement, resisting the oppression of 
a new generation of post-Communist dictators, this time bent on ethnic 
cleansing and genocide.
  As his courage grew, so did the people's respect for him. In 1996, 
the people of Belgrade freely elected him the first non-Communist mayor 
sine World War II. It was in that position that he built the popular 
base and credibility that served him so well in the historical role he 
was about to play, in the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic. Djindjic was 
one of the chief strategists behind the September 24, 2002, Yugoslav 
Presidential elections and the October 5, 2000, uprising that resulted 
in Milosevic's overthrow. In December 2000, he led the Democratic 
Opposition of Serbia--a coalition of 18 parties spanning a broad range 
of the political spectrum--into Serbia's parliamentary elections, and 
won an impressive 65 percent of the popular vote. The DOS elected 
Djindjic to be Prime Minister of Serbia on January 25, 2001.

  That popularity speaks well of Zoran Djindjic, but it speaks volumes 
about the people of Serbia. After years--decades--of Communist and 
fascist dictatorship, the spirit of the Serbian people arose valiant, 
triumphant because the desire for freedom cannot be crushed. Prime 
Minister Djindjic was, in a large sense, the embodiment of their 
determination, their yearning to be free. Each time this man spoke of 
freedom and liberty, of reform and democracy, the people of Serbia 
supported him, sustained him, elevated him to lead them, and followed 
them into the brighter future that he hoped fervently to help them 
build.
  It appears that it was, ultimately, his pledge and his actions to 
stamp out corruption and widespread organized crime that brought him 
into the assassin's sights.
  In February, a truck swerved from its lane, headed directly for the 
motorcade carrying the Prime Minister, and narrowly missed. Prime 
Minister Djindjic very well could have been killed. Djindjic himself 
suggested that the incident might be the handiwork of members of 
organized crime rings, which flourished under Miloservic and remain 
linked to him to this day.
  Just as he did not permit prison to diminish his energy, Prime 
Minister Djindjic did not let this danger impede him or dim his spirit. 
He pressed on, valiantly, in his campaign against the crime and 
corruption that corrodes his society.
  The news of the Prime Minister's death has been a tremendous shock, 
not only to the people of Serbia, but to the entire region. President 
Stjepan Mesic of Croatia has rightly described the assassination as 
``an act of madness,'' and raised concerns that this assassination will 
``slow down [Serbia's] progress towards democracy.''
  I certainly understand the Croatian President's concern. It would be 
a dishonor to the memory of Prime Minister Djindjic were his fears to 
be realized. After centuries of conflict and decades of oppression and 
crippling violence, Serbia and the entire Balkan region have made 
remarkable strides toward peace, democracy, economic development, and a 
better life for the people of all nations in the region. The United 
States has played a crucial role in furthering that progress. For the 
past 10 years, in Bosnia Hercegovina, in Kosovo, the United States has 
fought--diplomatically and militarily--to stop the forces of oppression 
and genocide, and to support the forces of liberty and democracy.
  There can be no greater way to remember this man than to ensure that 
his death will not be in vain, that his life's work will continue. And 
so, I urge all of us who are friends and supporters of democracy, and 
those who fight for it, to redouble our commitment to and solidarity 
with those who stand, as Prime Minister Djindjic did, for a better, 
freer, more democratic future for the people of Serbia.

                          ____________________