Serbia convicts 12 in prime minister assassination trial News
Serbia convicts 12 in prime minister assassination trial

[JURIST] Milorad Ulemek, paramilitary commander under Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive], was convicted with 11 others on Wednesday for the assassination of former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic [BBC obituary; memorial website]. The Special Court in Belgrade sentenced Ulemek to 40 years imprisonment, the maximum sentence allowed under Serbian law, finding that he organized the assassination. Zvezdan Jovanovic, was convicted of firing the shot that killed Djindjic and was also sentenced to 40 years. Jovanovic claimed [JURIST report] in 2006 that he was impermissibly forced to sign a confession to Djindjic's murder.

The other defendants received sentences ranging from 8 to 35 years. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

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