First monument to late Serbian prime minister unveiled

Aug 1, 2007, 10:59 GMT

Belgrade - The first ever monument erected in Serbia in honour of the late prime minister Zoran Djindjic was dedicated in the southern town of Prokuplje on Wednesday.

The late reformist prime minister's mother, Mila Djindjic, unveiled the monument, standing 2.3 metres in height in front of a sports complex in Prokuplje already bearing his name.

The commemoration on Wednesday coincides with what would have been Djindjic's 55th birthday.

In attendance were officials from Djindjic's cabinet and the leader of the slain prime minister's Democratic Party, current Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Djindjic, who was the first democratic prime minister of Serbia elected after the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic's regime in 2000, was assassinated on March 12, 2003 in front of the Serbian government building.

In late May, a dozen men - members of a disbanded police commando unit, secret police and powerful organized crime gangs - were handed prison terms for between 30 and the maximum 40 years for Djindjic's murder.

In the wake of the convictions, however, the state prosecutor's office has reopened investigations into the political background of Djindjic's death, which many believe involved a large network of connections between police, mafia, lawmakers and politicians.