Eight former secret police officers have been jailed for up to 40 years for the kidnap and murder of Serbia's former president Ivan Stambolic.
Milorad Lukovic denies any role in the killing of Zoran Djindjic
Milorad Ulemek, who is also accused of masterminding the 2003 assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, was given a 40-year jail term.
Stambolic was killed by the unit loyal to Slobodan Milosevic in August 2000.
The indictment said Mr Milosevic saw Stambolic as a threat to his "future authority and political power".
Stambolic was snatched while out jogging, executed and buried in woodlands.
The sentences took into account a failed attempt to kill another of Mr Milosevic's rivals, the current Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.
Milosevic, on trial for war crimes at the international tribunal at The Hague, has denied any role in the murder of his rival.
Along with Ulemek, also known as Milorad Lukovic or Legija, Branko Bercek, Dusan Maricic and Nenad Bujosevic were jailed for 40 years.
Ivan Stambolic was seen as Slobodan Milosevic's former mentor
Two other members of the JSO or Red Berets unit, Nenad Ilic and Leonid Milivojevic, and former secret service chief Radomir Markovic all received 15-year jail terms.
Ex-JSO member Milorad Bracanovic was given four years.
Judge Dragoljub Albijanic said of Markovic: "As the chief of the secret police and the superior of Ulemek, he missed the opportunity to give a direct order to prevent the killing of Stambolic and afterwards he did not report that crime."
Ulemek's trial for the killing of Djindjic is still ongoing.
He was also given a 15-year jail sentence last month for an earlier attempt to kill Mr Draskovic by ramming his convoy with a lorry full of sand, in which Mr Draskovic's brother-in-law and three of his bodyguards were killed.