Zeljko Raznatovic

Serbs no longer go in for eerie "penetrating wails" as much as they did, but, as with Firmilian's death over a century ago, Patriarch Irinej's death last Friday is an event of much more than religious significance - which explains the three days of state mourning and telegrams from the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Jovan Dimitrijevic, who was in charge of logistics for Arkan's paramilitary unit, told the retrial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague that weapons for the unit's wartime activities were supplied by the Yugoslav People's Army, not the Serbian State Security Service.

On January 15, 2000, Zeljko Raznatovic was having a drink with friends at the upmarket InterContinental Hotel in Belgrade when a man walked up to them and opened fire at close range with a semi-automatic pistol.

Raznatovic - better known around the world as the Serbian paramilitary leader Arkan - was hit by a bullet in the eye, and died on his way to hospital. He was 47.

The Belgrade International Book fair was once the haunt of famous writers and publishers - which explains why the Serbian tabloid "Informer" has encountered a good deal of criticism on Twitter for luring guests of a very different type to this year's fair.

They included actors, sportsmen, a folk singer, a reality TV star, an astrologist and a hair-dresser.

Former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic told his war crimes trial that he didn’t work with notorious paramilitary boss Zeljko Raznatovic, alias ‘Arkan’, despite photo and video evidence.

Rade Rakonjac, a former bodyguard to Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan", was shot dead in a cafe in the Belgrade neighbourhood of Dedinje on Wednesday at noon.

Two others were injured in the incident and taken to the emergency centre.

A former member of paramilitary chief Zeljko Raznatovic’s notorious ‘Arkan’s Tigers’ unit was convicted in his absence of war crimes against Croatian civilians near the village of Drinovci in 1992.

THE HAGUE - Croatian legal representatives argued before the International Court of Justice in The Hague Tuesday that Serbia had planned and had a clear intention to destroy Croat communities across Croatia during the 1991-95 war on the territory of that country.