Suspect in Serb PM killing claims he was forced to sign confession News
Suspect in Serb PM killing claims he was forced to sign confession

[JURIST] The alleged assassin of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic [BBC obituary; memorial website] has accused Serb police officers and other officials of forcing him to sign a statement that says he is responsible for the 2003 murder [JURIST report] of the Serbian reform leader outside a government building in Belgrade. Zvezdan Jovanovic initially acknowledged a role in the killing but later pleaded not guilty and through his lawyer told reporters that the forced confession involved threats against his family.

Ex-Serb paramilitary commander Milorad Ulemek, who served with Jovanovich during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, has been accused of masterminding the murder as part of a larger plan to put more power in the hands of former leader Slobodan Milosevic [JURIST news archive]. Both men and 11 others are being detained as their trials continue. 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.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.