‘They hit me so hard I lost consciousness’: Serbian opposition leader tells of secret service ordeal

Arrest of pro-west politician Nikola Sandulovi, who dared to apologise over Kosovo crimes, exposes tensions still festering in the Balkans

Bed-bound in the gargantuan brick and marble villa that is his home, Nikola Sandulovi recounts the attack that has, he says, left him paralysed on his right side and unable to walk.

It was 3 January at 3.20pm when three vehicles carrying agents from Serbia's BIA secret service screeched to a halt outside his home in Belgrade's plush Senjak area. Bundled into a black van - its tinted windows shielding what would happen next - the masked men soon told him why they had come: the former entrepreneur and one-time opposition politician had dared to apologise for crimes committed by Serbs when inter-ethnic conflict convulsed Kosovo in the late 1990s after the violent break-up of Yugoslavia.