Sretko Kalinić ( sr-Cyrl, Сретко Калинић; born 25 February 1974), also known as "Zver" ( sr-Cyrl, Звер, lit=The Beast) or "Beli" ( sr-Cyrl, Бели, lit=The White), is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

gangster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''Organized crime, mob'' and the suffix ''wikt:-ster, -st ...

,Šiptar naređivao
Kalinić ubijao
Novosti.rs; accessed 20 January 2016."Vukojevića ubio Kalinić?"
b92.net; accessed 20 January 2016.
e-novine.com; accessed 20 January 2016.

contract killer Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

and

mass murderer Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

, who holds dual

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n and Croatian citizenship.Kalinic personally killed 20 people
He is best known as one of the conspirators in the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of Serbian Prime Minister

Zoran Đinđić Zoran Đinđić ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Ђинђић, ; 1 August 1952 – 12 March 2003) was a Serbian politician and philosopher who served as the Prime Minister of Serbia, prime minister of Serbia from 2001 until Assassination of Zoran Đinđić, ...

Early life

Kalinić was born in

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

in a

family. In the early 1990s, during the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

, he was at one period a member of paramilitary unit called the

Kninjas The Kninjas (), also known as the Red Berets, was a Serb paramilitary unit and a volunteer militia supporting the Army of Serb Krajina during the Croatian War of Independence. It was based in Knin, the capital of breakaway SAO Krajina that became ...

(Red berets) headed by

Dragan Vasiljković Dragan Vasiljković ( sr-cyrl, Драган Васиљковић; born 12 December 1954), nicknamed Captain Dragan () is a convicted war criminal and former commander of a Serb paramilitary unit called the Kninjas during the Yugoslav Wars. In 200 ...

("Captain Dragan").Sretko Kalinić Zver priznao i jednu likvidaciju u Hrvatskoj, onu Cvetka Simića?
jutarni.hr; accessed 20 January 2016.

Criminal career

After the war, Kalinić became one of the members of the notorious

Zemun Clan The Zemun Clan () is one of the Belgrade clans of the Serbian mafia. It is named for the gang's base in Zemun, a municipality of Belgrade. The peak of the clan's power and influence occurred between 1999 and 2003 and they were considered to be o ...

, the largest Serbian criminal group, where he rose through the ranks. In the testimony of Dejan "Bugsy" Milenković, a former member of the Zemun Clan and protected witness, he accused Kalinić of being the cruelest member of the Clan, garnering the nickname "Beast". According to Milenković's testimony, Kalinić was '"a favorite murderer" of Dušan Spasojević "Šiptar", the head of the Zemun clan, and was responsible for the murder of at least twenty people.Judgement of the Court for the murder of Djindjic
Prison sentences for Zemun Clan
/ref> In March 2003, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić was assassinated under the orders of Zemun Clan leader Milorad "Legija" Ulemek and Dusan Spasojevic. On 23 May 2007 the Belgrade Special Court for Organised Crime found twelve men, including Kalinić, guilty of conspiring the murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. However, Kalinić and others went on the run following the assassination and could not be found. On 18 January 2008, Kalinić was sentenced by the Serbian court in absentia to 40 years imprisonment for involvement in killings, kidnappings, terrorist acts, and the murder of Đinđić. In June 2010 he was found shot in the suburbs of

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

by fellow gangster Miloš Simović, also a conspirator in the assassination of Đinđić. Kalinić was taken to the hospital to be treated and questioned by the police.

Arrest in Croatia

While recovering in the hospital, Kalinić offered

cooperation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...

to Croatian investigators, including testimony on the organization of the assassination of Đinđić, and the names of the people who ordered the murder of Zoran Vukojević, a protected

witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

. He admitted to murdering Vukojević as well as Zoran Pović in 2006; both were witnesses linked to the Đinđić assassination trial. According to a Croatian newspaper, Kalinić admitted participating in the murders of some twenty people in Serbia,

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and Croatia. Despite being convicted of crimes in Serbia, it was noted that Kalinić would not be eligible for extradition to Serbia since he held Croatian citizenship and Croatian law forbids the extradition of their citizens (Kalinić is a citizen of both countries). Nevertheless, a few days later Serbian Minister of Justice Snežana Malović announced an extradition request for Kalinić to Croatia in hopes that Croatia would change their laws. It was later announced that the

Croatian Sabor The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

was working on adopting constitutional amendments in regards to regional criminals so they could be subject to extradition. The changes were approved and on August 25, Kalinić was extradited to Serbia.

Victims

Sretko Kalinić was sentenced by a Serbian court following testimony from former members of the criminal Zemun Clan, Dejan Milenković and Saša Petrović. A large list of Kalinić's victims has been confirmed by his confession to Croatian investigators and statements of Miloš Simović to Serbian investigators. Accordingly, Kalinić personally killed, assisted in the murders, or participated as a collaborator in the organization of murders of Đinđić, Zoran Vukojević (an ex-member of

and protected witness), as well as Zoran Pović, Sredoje Šljukić, Zoran Šljukić, Zoran Savić, Jovan Guzijan, Rade Cvetić, Todor Gradašević, former leader of paramilitary units Branislav Lainović, Zoran Davidović, Zoran Uskoković, Mirko Tomić, Radoslav Trlajić, Željko Vuletić, Željko Mihajlović, and Zoran Petrović. Miloš Simović and Sretko Kalinić accused each other of the murder of their associate, Cvetko Simić, whose body parts, except for his head, were found in a lake near Zagreb. According to ex members of the

, Dejan Milenković and Sasa Petrović, Kalinić enjoyed sadistically torturing his victims. In their testimony the two said Kalinić killed Zoran Savić, then broke his bones with a

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

, and then burned the rest of his body with

acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

. Kalinić participated in kidnappings for the Zemun Clan, where he brutally tortured the kidnapped victims. Among the well-known businessmen who were kidnapped by the Zemun Clan were Miroslav Mišković, Milija Babović, and Suvad Musić. Gordan Malić of Croatia's ''

Jutarnji list () is a Croatian daily newspaper based in Zagreb. It was published on 6 April 1998 by EPH (Europapress holding, owned by Ninoslav Pavić), which eventually changed its name in Hanza Media after being bought by Marijan Hanžeković. The newspap ...

'' claimed Kalinić's confession to Croatian investigators acknowledged that he eliminated traces of the murder victim in Spain by grinding victim's body parts in a

meat grinder A meat grinder (also called a "meat mincer" in the UK) is a kitchen appliance for mincing (fine chopping) and/or mixing of raw or cooked meat, Fish (food), fish, vegetables or similar food. It replaces tools like the Mezzaluna, mincing knife ...

."Iskaz Kalinića važi ako je dat pred istražnim sudijom"
smedia.rs; accessed 20 January 2016.

References

External links