Milosevic Behind Bars
Ending a multi-day stand-off at his villa in suburban Belgrade, former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic surrendered to the government he once ran on Sunday and is now behind bars, facing corruption charges.
The ex-Yugoslav president gave himself up voluntarily "to include himself in the legal procedure," said Milosevic aide Branislav Ivkovic.
An investigating judge ordered Milosevic held at Belgrade's central prison for 30 days. Milosevic pleaded innocent and was appealing the detention order, said his lawyer, Toma Fila.
"He decided to defend himself. He will speak up and tell the truth," Fila said.
The 26-hour stand-off ended without violence, something that Yugoslav authorities had feared during the impasse.
"Frankly, I didn't expect a peaceful outcome. He said he wouldn't turn himself in alive. Other reports said he had threatened to kill his family and the people around him," said Goran Vesic, Yugoslavia's assistant interior minister.
The United States and other Western governments hailed the arrest as a first step towards trying Milosevic at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, where he's charged with crimes against humanity over atrocities committed against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999.
On Sunday, President Bush urged Yugoslavia to work with the tribunal, but did not indicate whether he'd step up pressure for a trial through the tribunal by cutting off aid to the Balkan nation. Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to announce a decision on the aid by Monday at the earliest.
"Milosevic's arrest should be a first step toward trying him for the crimes against humanity with which he is charged," Mr. Bush said in a written statement.
"His arrest represents an important step in bringing to a close the tragic era of his brutal dictatorship," the statement also said.
"This is very welcome news to all those who have struggled so long to bring peace and justice to the Balkans," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said.
Carla del Ponte, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, said she wanted Milosevic in The Hague by the end of the year.
"We are asking immediately for a commitment from the Yugoslav state to transfer him," her spokeswoman said.
But the reformists who now run the government in Belgrade insisted that the arrest, their most politically provocative move since they took power last tall, had been carried out purely so Milosevic can face domestic corruption charges of diverting well over $100 million in state funds.
"We can decide on extraditing Milosevic or any other Yugoslav citizen only after a law on cooperation with the Hague tribunal is passed," Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic said.
Milosevic's arrest ended several days of drama, tension, and confusion over the fate of the former president that included a shootout between black-clad masked police commandos and his own private gurds during one of two failed attempts to grab him.
In the end, Milosevic agreed to give himself up and was transferred to prison in the early hours of Sunday morning, local time, from the official Belgrade residence he had continued to occupy despite his political downfall.
The former president's adult daughter Marija fired several shots in the air in anger after Milosevic was taken away, according to Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic.
"Mr Milosevic will enjoy all the rights granted to him by the law," said Mihajlovic. He added that the former president could face between five and 15 years in prison if found guilty of the accusations against him.
Earlier, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica made it clear that there was no way that his predecessor would escape justice.
"No one can remain untouchable. ... Every individual must bear responsibility according to the law," Kostunica said. "Whoever shoots at the police must be apprehended. Whoever has been subpoenaed by a judge must answer those summons. ... The law applies to every citizen."
The Yugoslav government's failed raid on Milosevic's villa on Saturday took place on the same day that the U.S. Congress had set as a deadline for Belgrade to begin cooperating with the war crimes tribunal. Washington had said that Yugoslavia will face suspension of $100 million in economic aid if it does not comply.
Since his ouster from power last fall, Milosevic has lived under police surveillance in the tile-roof, suburban Belgrade villa built for former communist dictator Josip Broz Tito in 1978, two years before that dictator's death.
Milosevic rose to power in Yugoslavia during the waning years of communist power there and in Eastern Europe. In 1991, he triggered the bloody break-up of the old Yugoslavia, sending his army into losing wars against the pro-independence republics of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia.
His brutal attempts to put down an ethnic Albanian rebellion in Serbia's province of Kosovo led to NATO airstrikes that ultimately pushed his forces out of the province in 1999.
When Milosevic refused to accept defeat at the polls last fall, opposition supporters rioted. Although he relinquished the job of Yugoslav president in October, he remained politically active in the months leading up to the siege.