(23 Dec 2003)
1. Wide exterior of court
2. Two shots armed policeman
3. Convoy of police vans driving down road towards court
4. Various of convoy arriving at court
5. Various of armed police outside court
6. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Nenad Vukasovic, Defence lawyer:
"I expect that our defence request will be rejected. But we have to wait for 8 to 10 days to receive news from the court. And we also asked to to separate the trial of Zoran Djindjic's murder from trial of the other murders these (people) are accused of. We will use legal means to continue our fight in court. The fight goes on."
7. Main defendant Zvezdan Jovanovic behind glass in court
8. Close up Jovanovic's face
9. Various of police sitting with other defendants in court
10. Various close ups of defendants
11. Various of legal teams
12. Interiors of court
STORYLINE:
The trial for the murder of Serbia's prime minister Zoran Djindjic continued on Tuesday with 21 suspected gang figures and members of an elite police unit appearing charged with his assassination.
The presiding judge Marko Kljajevic opened the session on Monday but was forced to call a recess to consider objections by defence lawyers raised because of last-minute changes in the indictment.
Defence teams also said the chief prosecutor, Jovan Prijic, had attempted to secretly negotiate with some of the defendants, offering them shorter prison terms in exchange for cooperation.
The proceedings - considered a crucial test for Serbia's judiciary - started amid maximum security in a high-tech
courtroom in Belgrade surrounded by concrete walls and with bulletproof glass protecting defendants.
A total of 36 suspected gangsters and members of an elite police unit face charges of allegedly forming a "criminal enterprise" that attempted to topple Djindjic's pro-Western government, according to the indictment.
However, only 21 of the suspects appeared in the court each flanked by two policemen.
The remaining 15 will be tried in absentia, including the alleged mastermind of the assassination, Milorad Lukovic or Legija, a former French Foreign Legion fighter who commanded the elite "Red Berets" during Milosevic's war campaigns in Bosnia and Croatia.
Lukovic is believed hiding in Bosnia or Bulgaria.
Among the first expected to testify was Zvezdan Jovanovic, a Red Berets commander accused of firing the bullets that killed Djindjic and wounded his bodyguard.
Authorities have said the March 12 assassination was part of a plan by hard-line supporters of Milosevic to regain power three years after the former president was ousted by Djindjic's coalition.
The sniper attack that killed the prime minister in front of government headquarters in Belgrade touched off the arrests of thousands of underworld figures and Milosevic-era paramilitaries believed linked to the murder.
Months of investigations and a countrywide crackdown on organised crime, which also shed light on some previously unresolved murders and abductions, led to criminal charges against the 36.
Charges include conspiracy against the state, terrorism and first-degree murder, as well as some lesser crimes.
The defendants could each face up to 40 years in jail.
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