Death threats, tension ahead of Serb vote

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic has received death threats amid a surge in tension a week before a crucial parliamentary election, officials and media said Monday.

Government Minister Mladjan Dinkic said on B92 radio that "those are serious threats that should be dealt with by the prosecutor's office and the security services."

Dinkic gave no other details. The Blic daily reported that Tadic received a letter accusing him of "treason" and warning he will "receive what he deserves -- a bullet in the forehead."

Tadic's office refused to confirm or deny the reports.

The president said later Monday that "there must be no lynching atmosphere in Serbia."

"I am not talking about myself alone, each person must be protected," he told reporters in Belgrade.

The prosecutor's office issued a statement saying that "state authorities have taken measures to protect the president ... and identify the perpetrators of this criminal act."

Tadic has faced increased criticism from nationalists since he endorsed a pre-membership agreement that Serbia signed last week with the European Union.

Hard-liners have argued that the so-called Stabilization and Association agreement with the EU should not have been signed unless the union acknowledged that Kosovo remains part of Serbia.

Kosovo -- once Serbia's medieval heartland but now populated mostly by ethnic Albanians -- declared independence from Serbia in February.

More than a dozen EU countries and the United States have recognized Kosovo's independence. But Serbia and Russia have rejected it as a violation of international law.

Hardline Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose split with Tadic over ties with the EU forced the early elections, said late Sunday on state television that the EU agreement was "not in Serbia's interest."

"It was ordered by Washington, then obeyed in Brussels and then someone in Belgrade agreed to it," Kostunica said.

Kostunica's allies in Kosovo announced Monday they will sue Tadic and his associates for "treason." Hardline Kosovo Serb leaders said the EU agreement was an "act against the state" that prepared the way for the breakup of Serbia.

Last week, posters appeared in Belgrade labeling Tadic and the Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic "enemies of the state." A senior nationalist leader accused the two of treason and vowed to annul the agreement.

Serbia's prosecutor has said he was investigating who is behind the posters.

The surge in tension illustrates the deep division between pro-Western reformers and nationalists before the May 11 vote.

The election will determine whether Serbia will pursue closer ties with the European Union, as advocated by Tadic, or embrace the defiant nationalism that marked the era of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Pre-election surveys have predicted a tight race, with Tadic's pro-European coalition slightly behind a nationalist bloc led by the pro-Milosevic Serbian Radical Party.

Milosevic's followers in the past have repeatedly accused their rivals of being Western stooges planning to sell out the country.

Similar accusations were leveled by the nationalists against Serbia's first post-Milosevic prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, who was gunned down in 2003 by paramilitaries and criminals.

Government Minister Dinkic evoked Djindjic's assassination to stress that the threats against Tadic must be taken seriously.

"We live in the country whose prime minister was killed," he said. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

All About Boris Tadic • Kosovo • Serbia