Operation Sablja

The Operation Sablja (Operation Sabre; Serbian Cyrillic: Операција Сабља) was launched on March 12, 2003, following the assassination of Zoran Đinđić, the Prime Minister of Serbia. The assassination destabilized the government. Immediately after the assassination, a state of emergency was declared by interim president Nataša Mićić. The government mounted Operation Sablja.

This police action was aimed at finding the assassins and was seen as a blow to organized crime, but a number of political opponents to the Democratic Party and its government were arrested during this action in connection with Mafia. Most were later freed. At the end of the operation, most of the suspects for the assassination were arrested. The main suspect, Milorad Ulemek, is currently on trial for murdering the Prime Minister and has been sentenced for the Ibarska magistrala crime to 40 years in jail.

Some political opponents accused government of human rights abuse during the operation but government and proponents of the action pointed out that Serbia became member of Council of Europe during the action and that majority of the organizations sent to analyze situation during the operation including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe declared that operation was without breaches of human rights. Some organisations disagree, notably Human Rights Watch([1], [2], [3], [4]) and Amnesty International. They are especially critical of the fact that some suspected criminals were interrogated without a lawyer being present.