# 15 Željko Ražnatović

Željko Ražnatović was born on 17 April 1952 – 15 January 2000 and known as Arkan, was a Serbian career criminal and commander of a paramilitary force in the Yugoslav Wars, called the Serb Volunteer Guard. He was enlisted on Interpol's most wanted list in the 1970s and 1980s for robberies and murders committed in a number of countries across Europe, and was later indicted by the UN for crimes against humanity for his role during the wars. Ražnatović was up until his death the most powerful crime boss in the Balkans. He was assassinated in 2000, before his trial.

Željko Ražnatović was born in Brežice, a small border town in Slovenian Styria, FPR Yugoslavia. His father, Veljko Ražnatović, served as a decorated officer in the SFR Yugoslav Air Force, earning high rank for his notable World War II involvement on the Partisan side, and was stationed in Slovenian Styria at the time of Željko's birth. He spent part of his childhood in Zagreb (SR Croatia) and Pančevo (SR Serbia), before his father's job eventually took the family to the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade (SR Serbia), which Ražnatović considered his hometown. His father was born in Cetinje (SR Montenegro), a descendant of the Ražnatović brotherhood, and had taken part in the Yugoslav liberation of Priština in World War II.

Ražnatović grew up in Belgrade with three older sisters in a strict, militaristic household with regular beatings administered by his father. In a 1991 interview he recalled: "He didn't really hit me in a classical sense, he'd basically grab me and slam me against the floor."In his youth, Ražnatović aspired to become a pilot, as his father had been. Due to the highly demanding and significant positions of his parents, there appeared to be very little time in which a bond was able to be established between parents and children. His parents eventually divorced during his teenage years.

 

Ražnatović was arrested for the first time in 1966 after snatching women's purses around Tašmajdan, spending a year at a juvenile detention center not far from Belgrade. His father then sent him to the seaside town of Kotor to join the Yugoslav Navy, but Ražnatović had other plans, ending up in Paris at the age of 15. In 1969 he was arrested by French police and shipped home, where he was sentenced to three years at the detention center in Valjevo for several burglaries. During this time he organized his own gang in the prison.

In his youth, Ražnatović was a ward of his father's friend, the Slovenian politician and Federal Minister of the Interior, Stane Dolanc. Dolanc was chief of the secret police and a close associate of the Yugoslav president, Tito. Whenever Ražnatović was in trouble, Dolanc helped him, allegedly as a reward for his services to the Yugoslav secret state police UDBA, as seen in the escape from the Lugano prison in 1981. Dolanc is quoted as having said: "One Arkan is worth more than the whole UDBA."

In 1972, aged 20, he migrated to Western Europe. Abroad, he got introduced to and kept contact with many well-known criminals from Yugoslavia such as Ljuba Zemunac, Ranko Rubežić, Đorđe "Giška" Božović, Goran Vuković, et al., all of whom were also occasionally contracted by the Yugoslav secret service, and all of whom were since assassinated or otherwise killed. He took the nickname "Arkan" from one of his forged passports. On 28 December 1973 he was arrested in Belgium following a bank robbery, and was sentenced to ten years in prison.

He managed to escape from the Verviers prison on 4 July 1979. Although Ražnatović was rearrested in the Netherlands on 24 October 1979, the few months he was free were enough for at least two more armed robberies in Sweden and three more in the Netherlands. Serving a seven-year sentence at a prison in Amsterdam, he pulled off another escape on 8 May 1981 after someone slipped him a gun. Wasting no time, more robberies followed, this time in Germany, where after less than a month of freedom he was arrested in Frankfurt on 5 June 1981 following a jewellery store stickup. In the ensuing shootout with police he was lightly wounded, resulting in his placement in the prison hospital ward, where looser security allowed him to escape again only four days later, on 9 June, supposedly by jumping from the window, beating up the first bystander and stealing his clothing before disappearing.

His final European arrest occurred in Basel, Switzerland during a routine traffic check on 15 February 1983. However he managed to escape again within months, this time from Torberg prison on 27 April. It is widely speculated that Ražnatović was closely affiliated with the Yugoslav security service UDBA throughout his criminal career abroad.

He had convictions or warrants in Belgium (bank robberies, prison escape), the Netherlands (armed robberies, prison escape), Sweden (20 burglaries, 7 bank robberies, prison escape, attempted murder), Germany (armed robberies, prison escape), Austria, Switzerland (armed robberies, prison escape), and Italy.

Ražnatović returned to Belgrade in May 1983, continuing his criminal career by opening a number of illegal businesses. In November 1983, six months after his return, a bank in Zagreb got robbed with the robbers leaving a rose on the counter — allegedly Ražnatović's signature from his Western European robberies. As a result, two federal policemen, members of the Secretariat of Internal Affairs' (SUP) Tenth department, showed up in civilian clothing looking for Arkan at his mother's apartment on 27 March Street in Belgrade.

Ražnatović was not there, so his mother called him and said that two unknown males waited for him. He showed up with a revolver and proceeded to shoot and wound both policemen – he shot the first one on the spot while the other one got shot trying to flee the scene. Arkan was detained immediately, however, barely 48 hours later he got released. The occurrence made it clear to all observers that he enjoyed protection from the highest places in SFR Yugoslavia as a result of his involvement with the State Security.

Enjoying immunity at home, Arkan reportedly still made occasional robbing excursion to Western Europe such as the one in January 1984 when he reportedly wounded two Swedish policemen who pulled him over following a robbery in Gothenburg. He spent the mid 1980s running a disco club "Amadeus", together with Žika Živac and Tapi Malešević. Located in the Tašmajdan neighbourhood, the club was reportedly another perk of their contractual work for the security service.

On 11 October 1990, as the political, ethnic, and religious situation in Yugoslavia became tense, Ražnatović created a paramilitary group named the Serb Volunteer Guard. Ražnatović was the supreme commander of the unit, which was primarily made up of members of the Delije and his friends. In late October 1990, Ražnatović traveled to Knin to meet representatives of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, a break-away region with a significant number of ethnic Serbs, wanting to become a part of Serbia and remain in FR Yugoslavia, as opposed to the Croatian government that seceded. On 29 November 1990, Croatian police arrested him at the Croatian-Bosnian border crossing Dvor na Uni, along with local Dušan Carić, and Belgraders Dušan Bandić and Zoran Stevanović. His entourage was sent to Sisak, and was charged with conspiracy to overthrow the newly formed Croatian state. Ražnatović was sentenced to 20 months in jail. He was released from the Remetinec prison in Zagreb on 14 June 1991 under unclear circumstances, without the notice of Josip Boljkovac, then Internal Minister. It is believed that the Croatian and Serbian governments agreed on a 1 million Deutsche Mark settlement for his release.

In July 1991, Ražnatović was for some time at the Cetinje monastery, with Metropolitan Amfilohije Radović. His group of men, fully armed, were allowed to enter the monastery, where they served as security. His group traveled from Cetinje to the Siege of Dubrovnik. At the return from Dubrovnik, he was again guest at Cetinje

Ražnatović established the Serb Volunteer Guard, commonly known as "Arkan's Tigers", a paramilitary force set up in a former military facility in Erdut. His unit saw action from mid-1991 to late 1995, initially in the Vukovar region of Croatia. Ražnatović's much

feared irregular military forces consisted of a core of 200 men and perhaps totaled no more than 500 to 1,000. His units were subsequently supplied and equipped by the reserves of the Serbian police force during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. The unit included many volunteers from countries like Germany, Russia, Greece and Belgium, many of which were linked with criminal activities in Europe.

After war broke out in the former Yugoslav republic of Croatia in the fall of 1991 and in the republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina in April 1992, Ražnatović and his units moved to different territories in these countries. In Croatia, the Tigers fought in various areas in SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia. In Bosnia, his unit fought in battles in and around Zvornik, Bijeljina and Brčko, mostly against Croat and Bosniak paramilitary groups.

 

With Ratko Mladic and UN Peacekeeping Forces, Sarajevo, 1992.

 

In autumn 1995 his troops fought in the area of Banja Luka, Sanski Most and Prijedor. In October 1995 he left Sanski Most, as the Bosnian Army reclaimed the city. Ražnatović personally led most of the operations, and rewarded his most efficient officers and soldiers with ranks, medals and eventually products of lootings. Several younger soldiers were rewarded for their actions in and around Kopački Rit and Bijelo Brdo.

Ražnatović came to serve as a popular icon for both Serbs and their enemies. For some Serbs he was a patriot and folk hero, while serving as a target of hatred and fear to their enemies. His troops were also stationed in the Republic of Serbian Krajina to fight against Croatian paramilitary forces, and he had a dispute over military operations with the Serbian regional leader Milan Martić. Ražnatović also had friendly relations with Russian ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Arkan became an untouchable criminal figure in Belgrade and all of the former Yugoslavia. He was really so powerful, so strong financially that no one could do anything about him.... In 1993, I learned that Željko Ražnatović, Arkan, had in Belgrade kidnapped and taken to Erdut and there killed Isa Lero... also a man from the criminal underground who had come into conflict with Arkan. I even found a witness to the murder. I publicly accused Arkan. I submitted a report to the police. The police inspectors came to see me. We talked about it. I gave them all the information I had, but then the police inspector told me that they were aware of it but that they were unable to prove it because of the fear among the potential witnesses. So the police were quite well-informed about his criminal activities, but it was very hard to prove anything or to bring charges because his support network was so widespread, and this can be shown through various newspaper articles and so on. In one television statement, I told him when we were debating on TV, that he had pulled a sock over his head more often than I had pulled one on my feet.

In August 1998, when tensions over Kosovo had already begun, Ražnatović tried to get close to the West, writing a letter of support to U.S. president Bill Clinton over the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In the letter he expressed condolences for the victims that died in the attack, and warned Clinton of the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism. An excerpt from his letter reads: "Mr President... do not allow that terrorism continues in this part of Balkan in the Serbian state, which is forever a friend of your state." Clinton never responded to the letter.

 

According to chief judge Richard May from the United Kingdom, the ICTY issued an indictment against Ražnatović on 30 September 1997 for war crimes of genocide against the Muslim population, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva convention of 1949 for customs and traditions of war. The warrant was kept sealed and was not made public until 31 March 1999, a week after NATO bombing in Yugoslavia had begun. Ražnatović's indictment was made public by Louise Arbour, then UN court's chief prosecutor.

In the week before the start of NATO bombing – as the Rambouillet talks collapsed – Ražnatović appeared at the Hyatt hotel in Belgrade, where most Western journalists were staying, and ordered all of them to leave Serbia.

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Ražnatović denied the war crime charges against him in interviews he gave to foreign reporters during the Kosovo War. Ražnatović accused NATO of bombing civilians and creating refugees of all ethnicities, and stated that he would deploy his troops only in the case of a direct NATO ground invasion. After the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, which killed three journalists and led to a diplomatic row between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, the British Observer and Danish Politiken newspapers claimed the building might have been targeted because the office of the Chinese military attaché was being used by Ražnatović to communicate and transmit messages to his paramilitary group, the Tigers, in Kosovo. As neither paper offered any proof for this claim it was largely ignored by the media.

Arkan showed a small rubber part of the downed F-117A, which he had as "a souvenir", to Western journalists during the NATO bombing. In March 1999, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced that Ražnatović had been indicted by the Tribunal, although the indictment was only made public after his assassination. According to the indictment Ražnatović was to have been prosecuted on 24 charges of crimes against humanity (Art. 5 ICTY Statute), grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions (Art. 2 ICTY Statute) and violations of the laws of war (Art. 3 ICTY Statute), for the following acts:

• Forcibly detaining approximately thirty Muslim Bosniak men, in an inadequately ventilated room of approximately five square metres in size.
• Transporting twelve non-Serb men from Sanski Most to an isolated location in the village of Trnova and shooting them, killing eleven of the men and critically wounding the twelfth.
• Transporting approximately sixty-seven Bosniak Muslim men from Sanski Most, Sehovci, and Pobrijeze to an isolated location in the village of Sasina, and shooting them, killing sixty-five of the captives and wounding two survivors.
• Forcibly detaining approximately thirty-five Muslim Bosnian men in an inadequately ventilated room of about five square metres in size, withholding from them food and water, resulting in the deaths of two men.

  

Ražnatović was assassinated, on Saturday, 15 January 2000, 17:05 GMT, in the lobby of Belgrade's elite InterContinental Hotel, a location where he was surrounded by other hotel guests. The killer, Dobrosav Gavrić, was a 23-year-old police mobile brigade's junior member. Gavrić had ties to the underworld and was on sick leave at the time. He walked up alone towards his target from behind. Ražnatović was sitting and chatting with two friends and, according to BBC Radio, was filling out a betting slip. Gavrić waited for a few minutes, calmly walked up behind the party, and rapidly fired a succession of bullets from his CZ-99 pistol. Ražnatović was shot in his left eye and lapsed into a coma on the spot. His bodyguard Zvonko Mateović put him into a car, and rushed him to a hospital, but he died on the way.

According to his widow, Svetlana, Ražnatović died in her arms as they were driving to the hospital. His companions Milenko Mandić, a business manager, and Dragan Garić, a police inspector, were also shot to death by Gavrić. Gavrić was shot and wounded immediately after by Mateović and fell unconscious. A female bystander was seriously wounded in the shootout as well. After complicated surgery, Gavrić survived, but remained disabled and confined to a wheelchair as the result of a spinal wound.

Arkan’s murder is the latest in a series of more than a dozen
gangster-style killings in Belgrade that have targeted figures who, like Arkan, had plenty of blood on their hands, profited from war and were in the employ of the Milosevic regime. It’s the type of crime most people in this city have gotten used to remaining unsolved but speak of in whispers as having been ordered by “forces very high up.”

 

“The police killed him, so why would they arrest anybody?” said a taxi driver who drove past the blocked-off area of New Belgrade a few hours after the killing.

 

“I lean to the conclusion that the regime is behind the assassination,” speculated one Serbian analyst. “Not because I would know about any recent developments regarding Arkan’s conflicts with the regime, but because of the circumstances of the assassination: Just how the hell did they manage to kill him and escape, in a hotel full of the security staff?”

 

“Someone in the regime knew about what was going to happen,” suggested one Western analyst who asked not to be named. “It was someone who was watching Arkan a long, long time, someone who knew his patterns very well and presumably someone who could have known when his guard would be down. But there is no question that this killing is a bonus to the regime. One less key eyewitness for The Hague.”

 

    

 

Commemoration ceremony in Ražnatović's honour was held at Dom sindikata on 19 January 2000 with writer Brana Crnčević, Yugoslav Left (JUL) official Aleksandar Vulin, media tycoon Željko Mitrović, singers Oliver Mandić, Toni Montano and Zoran Kalezić, along with the entire first team of FK Obilić with club director Dragoslav Šekularac in attendance.

 

Gavrić pleaded innocent and never admitted to committing the crime. He was found guilty and sentenced to 19 years in prison. His accomplices received from 3 to 15 years each, after a year-long trial in 2002. However the district court verdict was overturned by the Supreme Court because of "lack of evidence and vagueness of the first trial process". A new trial was conducted in 2006, ending on 9 October 2006 with guilty verdicts upheld for Gavrić as well as his accomplices Milan Đuričić and Dragan Nikolić. Each man was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Only Nikolić is actually serving the sentence while Gavrić and Đuričić have been on the run for years. Gavric was arrested on 27 December 2011 in Cape Town South Africa where he had been living for some years under assumed name. He is in custody pending an extradition enquiry as to his liability to be extradited to Serbia. The extradition enquiry has been delayed as Gavric has applied for refugee status. This has been refused but he has taken the decision of the Refugee Status Determination Officer on review to the Western Cape High Court. The decision of this court is awaited. Still, the murderer's background and the identities of the person(s) who ordered it remain unclear and subject of rife speculation. According to one rumour, Marko Milošević, the son of Slobodan Milošević, is said to have had a harsh quarrel with Ražnatović over control of oil-smuggling rackets. NPR reported that he was more likely someone who simply knew too much when war crimes trials were becoming a reality for the Milošević regime. Another rumour claims that Borislav Pelević, Ražnatović's close associate and his successor as president of Party of Serbian Unity, served as the "inside man" for the plot against Ražnatović. Security services also wiretapped Ražnatović shortly before his murder; for four months the group allegedly followed Ražnatović's movements and whereabouts, learning his habits. On 15 January 2008, the eighth anniversary of Ražnatović's death, his sister, Jasna Diklić, accused Andrija Drašković, a controversial businessman with alleged ties to the Mafia, of being behind her brother's murder. She further accused Serbian state institutions of "protecting Ražnatović's murderers Gavrić and Đuričić, and not doing anything to apprehend them.

 

Bibliography:

1. "Arkan: Underworld boss of Milošević's murder squad". The Guardian. 19 January 2000.
   
2. “'Blood and Honey – A Balkan War Journal'". NPR. February 2001.
   
3. "Hrvatska za Arkana dobila milion maraka". Glas-javnosti. Arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
   
4. "Blic Online | Kozaci ne obezbeđuju manastir". Blic.rs. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
   
5. Vojin Ražnatović (4 July 2014). Stories About My Father: An Intimate Portrayal Of Europe's Most Controversial Paramilitary Commander. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
6. Stewart, Christopher S. (8 January 2008). Hunting the Tiger: The Fast Life and Violent Death of the Balkans' Most Dangerous Man. Thomas Dunne Books
7. Blic Online | Kozaci ne obezbeđuju manastir". Blic.rs. Retrieved 1 March 2014.