Sretko Kalinić
| Sretko Kalinić | |
|---|---|
| Born |
25 February 1974 (age 43) Zadar, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Occupation | Criminal |
| Criminal charge | Murder, kidnappings, terrorism, racketeering |
Sretko Kalinić, also known as "The Beast", or "The White" (born 25 February 1974) is a gangster,contract killer and mass murderer, who holds dual Serbian and Croatian citizenship. best known as one of the conspirators in the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
Kalinić was born in Zadar in a Serb family. In the early 1990s, during the Croatian War of Independence, he was at one period a member of paramilitary unit called the Knindže (Knin ninjas, Red berets) headed by Dragan Vasiljković ("Captain Dragan").
After the war, Kalinic became of a member of the notorious Zemun Clan, 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.
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 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.
While recovering in the hospital, Kalinić offered cooperation 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. He admitted to murdering Vukojević as well as Zoran Pović in 2006; both were witnesses linked to the Đinđić assassination trial. According to Croatian newspaper Kalinić admitted participating in the murders of some twenty people in Serbia, Netherlands, Spain, and Croatia.
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