Milosevic's Army Chief Surrenders
Former Yugoslav army commander General Dragoljub Ojdanic surrendered to The Hague war crimes tribunal on Thursday to face charges of committing war crimes in Kosovo under the orders of Slobodan Milosevic.
Ojdanic, a top suspect whose troops drove 800,000 people from their homes and killed thousands during the 1998-99 war in the Serbian province, told reporters before leaving from Belgrade's airport that he felt "like any other hero" as he headed to the tribunal to face justice.
Ojdanic, who traveled on a commercial flight to Amsterdam with his wife and a lawyer, is among six suspects who said they would voluntarily surrender rather than face arrest and extradition. A total of 24 Serbs are on the U.N. court's list of suspects wanted for alleged war crimes committed during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
They took part in war campaigns led by Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president already on trial in The Hague. Ojdanic, 60, has denied that his troops committed atrocities and insists the charges against him are unfounded.
Tribunal officials welcomed his surrender, but stressed that Yugoslav officials must hand over those who refuse to cooperate.
"He is the first of Mr. Milosevic's co-accused to have been transferred," said tribunal spokesman Jim Landale. "Hopefully his arrival will mark the beginning of a process which will see the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia fully living up to all of its obligations under international law."
"Real cooperation will come when authorities arrest those who don't want to surrender," said Jean Jacques Joris, adviser to chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. Joris declined to say if Ojdanic will testify against Milosevic.
"Try to be united," Ojdanic told the Serbian people in a parting message. He said he felt "like a hero" and expected to be free pending his U.N. trial, since he had given his word to cooperate with the court.
Yugoslavia's current leadership, which extradited Milosevic last year, has been under strong Western pressure to hand over the remaining suspects or risk losing millions of dollars in badly needed U.S. aid.
Ojdanic's wife wept as her husband, dressed in a black leather jacket, was taken into custody upon arrival and driven in an unmarked van to The Hague.
Ojdanic joined 40 other suspects in a special U.N. wing at the seaside prison in Scheveningen, just a few miles from the tribunal. He was to plead to the charges at his first court appearance Friday.
As chief of army staff, Ojdanic ordered attacks against ethnic Albanian villages in the spring of 1999 and faces charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war, according to his indictment.
"Operations targeting the Kosovo Albanians were undertaken with the objective of removing a substantial portion of the Kosovo Albanian population from Kosovo in an effort to ensure continued Serbian control over the province," the indictment says.
Receiving reporters at home on the eve of his departure a tearful Ojdanic took his two grandsons on his knee and said: "I wish them never to become soldiers."
He said it was shameful he faced trial in a foreign country on charges for which there was "no proof."
Ojdanic also ruled out any prospect he would incriminate Milosevic saying: "I do not have anything to say which could harm him.
"As a chief of staff, I have nothing to feel ashamed of and my conscience is clean," he added.
Earlier this month, the Yugoslav parliament passed a bill allowing the extraditions and the government issued a deadline to the wanted men to surrender or face arrest.
The five others who agreed to surrender are a former top aide to Milosevic, Nikola Sainovic; former Croatian Serb rebel leader Milan Martic; former army officers Mile Mrksic and Vladimir Kovacevic; and former Bosnian Serb prison guard Momcilo Gruban.
Most have pledged to turn themselves in within two weeks, while Mrksic was given a 30-day deadline because of poor health, the Justice Ministry said.
Eighteen other suspects listed by the U.N. tribunal - including the most-wanted fugitives, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime commander Gen. Ratko Mladic - now face possible arrest, the Justice Ministry has said.