A month before Jill Dando was tragically killed, Milorad Ulemek, a notorious Serbian hitman, was reportedly approached with a request to assassinate a high-profile target on his doorstep. This target, as he later discovered, was the renowned journalist herself.
Ulemek, known as the Legionnaire, claimed that when he was summoned to Belgrade by spymaster Radomir Markovic in March 1999, he was asked to carry out a “special task.” Markovic indicated that there was an individual who posed a significant threat to the state’s security and needed to be “removed.” Ulemek, however, declined the request, citing his deployment in Kosovo at the time.
Ulemek’s refusal did not come as a surprise as he had a long and violent history. He was a key figure in some of Serbia’s most heinous acts, including the murders of newspaper owner Slavko Curuvija and former Yugoslav president Ivan Stambolic. In 2007, he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for his involvement in the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
Ulemek’s criminal career began in his youth when he dropped out of school and fell into a life of petty crime. He eventually fled Yugoslavia and joined the French Foreign Legion. After serving in Chad and the Middle East, he returned to the Balkans and became a lieutenant to the notorious warlord Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan.
After Arkan’s assassination, Ulemek rose through the ranks of Serbia’s security apparatus. He became the de facto commander of the elite JSO unit, which acted as Milosevic’s personal guard. Ulemek’s brutality and ruthlessness were well known, and he was feared by both criminals and civilians alike.
As Serbia rose up against Milosevic’s regime, Ulemek and his associates in the Zemun Clan, one of Serbia’s largest organized crime groups, saw the writing on the wall. They switched sides and offered their support to the democratic opposition. Ulemek’s relationship with the new government, however, was short-lived.
In 2001, he was suspended from his post for setting fire to a nightclub. A year later, he was arrested and charged with Djindjic’s assassination. Ulemek was eventually convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison, where he remains today.
Milorad Ulemek’s life and crimes serve as a grim reminder of the brutality and violence that plagued Serbia during the 1990s and early 2000s. His actions not only claimed the lives of innocent people but also contributed to the destabilization of the region.
