pro-reform Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who was shot in front of Belgrade’s main government building earlier in the week.
"The funeral service will be served in the presence of His Highness Serbian Patriarch Mr Pavle, Mitropolit Montenegro-coastal Amfilohije, Hvostan bishop Atanasije, Backi bishop Irinej and other bishops," said the Government in a statement to BosNewsLife on Friday, March 14.
In addition "numerous clergymen and deacons," were to participate in the funeral service at the Temple of St. Sava, in Belgrade, the Government Press Service added. Foreign diplomats would also pay tribute to Djindjic, the first European government leader to be assassinated since that of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.
Tight security measures were likely as the service would be followed by "a funeral procession" across the main streets of the Serbian capital to the new cemetery, the Government announced. "Premier Djindjic will be buried with military honours in the Alley of the great men (Aleja velikana)," said the Government Press Service.
GROWING INSTABILITY
His death has added to fears of growing instability in mainly Orthodox Serbia, where parliament voted last month to created a new country with the tiny republic of Montenegro to replace Yugoslavia, after a decade of ethnic wars thatleft over 200,000 people dead.
Church officials are reportedly worried that a crucial new religion law will be put on halt in the aftermath and declaration of a state of emergency, following the assassination of the prime minister.
Adventists, Baptist leaders and human rights activists in Belgrade have had urged the authorities not to base the religion law of the new federation "Serbia and Montenegro" on the controversial old Yugoslav draft law.
NEW DRAFT
"There has to be a completely new draft of the law on religious freedom," Goran Miletic, regional coordinator for the investigation of human rights violations at the Humanitarian Law Centre in Belgrade, told the Forum 18 News Service (F18News).
"We have used all possible means to stop the adoption of this law," added Miodrag Zivanovic, the secretary to the Southeast European Union of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which covers Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Macedonia.
"The current draft seriously undermines human rights, human dignity and discriminates against many religious communities," he told F18News, as only those defined as "traditional" – were given the right to organize activities such as religious education.
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES
Religious communities listed in the preamble of the draft law are the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Islamic religious community, the Jewish religious community, the Lutheran church and the Reformed Church, experts say.
While several communities, including Jewish groups, have made clear they are satisfied with the law because they do not need new registration, evangelical oriented Christians expected more difficulties.
"Even though this law has not been adopted we are already suffering from its negative effects, because many religious communities are not listed," said Dane Vidovic, preacher of the First Baptist Church in Belgrade.
REFORMS ON HOLD?
He and others seem concerned that with the death and funeral of Djindjic, a process of reforms may have been buried as well.
In several interviews with an BosNewsLife reporter in recent years, Djindjic said he wanted to continue democratic reforms and tough measures towards organized crime, a policy government officials say may have caused him his life.
Up to 60 members of a crime gang have already been arrested as the manhunt continues to find those responsible for the murder that has shocked the nation, the Government said. The 50-year old Djindjic, who also spoke English and German, is survived by his wife Ruzica, a lawyer, and their two children.
