Milosevic Arrested, Faces Trial

Milosevic Arrested, Faces Trial

NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, March 31, 2001

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (UPI) – Former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic, a key figure in the Balkan turmoil of the past decade, was arrested Friday night by Yugoslav police.

Television reports showed Milosevic being driven away under police escort shortly before midnight (6 p.m. EST) from the presidential palace in Belgrade, where he has lived since his removal in September 2000 in a bloodless popular uprising.

Police had formed a cordon around the courthouse, keeping at bay a huge crowd of bystanders.

Milosevic was unofficially reported to have been brought before an investigating judge and charged with a number of offenses, including abuse of power and conspiracy to carry out criminal acts.

Milosevic's family has denied that he was taken into custody.

About 400 special police were reported to have been deployed close to the presidential residence. Scores of Milosevic supporters gathered at the two gates to the residence's compound intent on preventing his arrest. Sources claimed Milosevic had emerged from the house to greet them. Other sources said he was taken out of the compound through a secret tunnel.

One of Milosevic's close aids and a senior Socialist Party official, Zivorad Igic, claiming to be speaking from inside the residence, told several media organizations he was sitting next to his party leader and that they were laughing at the hoax about the arrest sprung on the world. Another senior Socialist Party leader, Branislav Ivkovic, also denied the arrest and said Milosevic was safely inside his residence.

Milosevic's arrest ended a dramatic day of confrontation between police and the former leader's Serbian followers. The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague has demanded Milosevic's extradition to face trial on crimes against the ethnic Albanian population in Yugoslavia's Kosovo province.

However, according to reports from Belgrade, Milosevic will be first tried in his own country, where Friday night he was charged with embezzlement and corruption. It remains uncertain whether Yugoslavia will be willing to hand him over to The Hague.

In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman called Milosevic's arrest "a very important step." He said the news had been quickly confirmed to the State Department by the Yugoslavian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The U.S. Congress had imposed a deadline of March 31 for Yugoslavia to comply with the War Crimes Tribunal's demand for Milosevic's arrest, or forfeit U.S. aid and the assistance of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

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