These days, people are resigned to Serbia sliding into chaos. Bulatovic was assassinated on 7 February, while having dinner in a Belgrade restaurant known to be a meeting place for supporters of President Slobodan Milosevic. Speculation is rife in the capital, where conspiracy theories are the order of the day.
Serbian officials point their fingers at the West, as well as Serbia's democratic opposition.
Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj went so far as to threaten independent journalists, saying that dissident journalists had contributed to Bulatovic's murder and were in the pay of the West. It's plain as day now and you won't be murdering any more statesmen. The murder has caused shock and confusion in Belgrade, even more than that of the notorious Arkan. Bulatovic, unlike most figures in Yugoslavian politics, was considered a modest man, untainted by corruption or black market activities. Nor was he among the Serb leaders charged with war crimes by the United Nations tribunal in The Hague.