[JURIST] Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive] ordered the 2000 killing of communist-era Serbian President Ivan Stambolic [Guardian obituary], his former mentor, to consolidate his hold on power in the former Yugoslavia, Serbia's Supreme Court said in a ruling Thursday that rejected the appeal of eight policemen convicted in 2005 [JURIST report] in connection with the plot whose sentences were confirmed [JURIST report] by the court earlier this month. The eight have also been convicted of the Milosevic-ordered attempted murder of former opposition leader Vuk Draskovic [official profile], the current Foreign Minister of Serbia. A court statement said that "The primary court defined and showed, and the Supreme Court also accepts, that Slobodan Milosevic gave an order for murder of Stambolic and Draskovic as his political opponents."

Milosevic faced war crimes charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] before his death [JURIST report] earlier this year. A direct case against him in Belgrade District Court for "organizing" Stambolic's murder was closed afterwards [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.