Foreign Legion. Photo: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bastille_Day_Parade_170714-D-PB383-013_(35087597534).jpg)
Gallery of Milorad Ulemek
Serb Volunteer Guard. Photo: Peter Denton from Teddington, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balkans_War_1991,_foot_patrol_(Srpska_dobrovolja%C4%8Dka_garda)_-_Flickr_-_Peter_Denton_%E4%B8%95%E7%89%B9_._%E5%A4%A9%E7%99%BB.jpg)
Foreign Legion. Photo: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bastille_Day_Parade_170714-D-PB383-013_(35087597534).jpg)
Serb Volunteer Guard. Photo: Peter Denton from Teddington, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balkans_War_1991,_foot_patrol_(Srpska_dobrovolja%C4%8Dka_garda)_-_Flickr_-_Peter_Denton_%E4%B8%95%E7%89%B9_._%E5%A4%A9%E7%99%BB.jpg)
Milorad Ulemek, known as Legija and also as Milorad Luković, is a Serbian former French Foreign Legionnaire, paramilitary commander, and commander of the Special Operations Unit. He was convicted for organizing the assassinations of Ivan Stambolić and Zoran Đinđić, the attempted assassination of Vuk Drašković, and other organized-crime offenses.
Background
Ulemek was born in Belgrade in 1968 and grew up in New Belgrade near the Hotel Jugoslavija. His father, Milan, was a noncommissioned officer in the Yugoslav Army, while his mother, Natalija, was a housewife. The family background placed his childhood within the military and socially diverse environment of the former Yugoslavia.
As a young man, Ulemek completed training as an automobile mechanic and attended a medical school in Belgrade. After a failed robbery in 1985, he left Yugoslavia for France, where he joined the French Foreign Legion.
Education
Ulemek completed an automobile-mechanic program and attended medical school in Belgrade.
He later received military training in the French Foreign Legion. The Legion is a branch of the French Army established in 1831 for service by foreign volunteers; during the period of Ulemek's service, its units operated in overseas deployments and in the former Yugoslavia.
Career
Ulemek joined the French Foreign Legion in April 1986 and served for approximately six years. He was associated with the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment and served in Chad, French Guiana, and the former Yugoslavia. He was also reported to have worked as a translator for the French Army during a deployment in Yugoslavia. He left the Legion without returning from leave and was subsequently treated as a deserter.
When the wars in the former Yugoslavia began in 1992, Ulemek joined the Serb Volunteer Guard, the paramilitary formation commanded by Željko Ražnatović Arkan. He became one of Arkan's close associates and commanded the unit known as the Super Tigers, which operated in eastern Slavonia. The Serb Volunteer Guard was later disbanded, and its personnel were incorporated into structures associated with the Serbian State Security Service and the Special Operations Unit.
In 1996, Ulemek joined the Special Operations Unit, commonly known as the Red Berets or JSO, after being invited by Jovica Stanišić, head of the State Security Service. He became leader of the Red Berets in 1999 and was appointed official commander of the JSO in April 2001. The unit was a special formation of Serbia's State Security Service and operated during the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo.
Ulemek was convicted in separate proceedings for organizing the murder of former Serbian president Ivan Stambolić, the attempted assassination of opposition leader Vuk Drašković, and the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. He also received a conviction connected with the Ibar Highway killings and other organized-crime offenses. His aggregate sentences totaled 160 years, while the maximum enforceable sentence under the law applicable at the time was 40 years. He surrendered to Serbian authorities in May 2004 and has been imprisoned at the Zabela institution in Požarevac.
Ulemek rose from service in the French Foreign Legion and the Serb Volunteer Guard to command the Serbian State Security Service's Special Operations Unit, one of the most prominent special formations in Serbia during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
He was convicted in Serbia for organizing the assassinations of former Serbian president Ivan Stambolić and Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, the attempted assassination of opposition leader Vuk Drašković, and additional organized-crime offenses.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Presiding Judge Nata Mesarović described the assassination of Zoran Đinđić as a political murder and a criminal act directed against the state.
Connections
Ulemek was documented as a friend of Kristijan Golubović, a Serbian criminal figure and public personality. Their association was connected with the criminal and paramilitary milieu surrounding Serbian organized crime in the 1990s.
Friend:
Kristijan Golubović
A Serbian criminal figure and public personality associated with the criminal and paramilitary milieu of the 1990s.
Criminal Proceedings in Serbia 2003–2007
The OSCE publication discusses the proceedings concerning the murders of Ivan Stambolić and Zoran Đinđić and the attempted assassination of Vuk Drašković, including Ulemek's role and convictions.
