War Crimes Court To Get Serb Pres.

Former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic turned himself in to the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal Monday, where he has vowed to fight allegations of wrongdoing in
Kosovo.

Milutinovic, charged with war crimes during a crackdown in the southern Serbian province in 1999, took a special flight from Belgrade to Amsterdam and was taken by car to the U.N. detention facility in The Hague.

He was expected to appear before a judge to enter a plea within a few days.

Though regarded as a figurehead leader, Milutinovic, 60, was a member of the inner circle of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Any testimony he might offer could prove damaging to the one-time Yugoslav leader, who is facing charges of genocide and other war crimes before the U.N. court.

The delay in Milosevic's trial went into a second week Monday as he recovers from the flu. It was the fifth day hearings were called off since proceedings resumed last week following a three-week holiday recess. Tuesday's hearings also were canceled. Milosevic,
61, has a weak heart and high blood pressure.

Milutinovic, who was Serbia's president from 1997 until last month, has denied any role in war crimes in Kosovo, saying that during his presidency he didn't have control over Serb-led security forces in the province.

Bajram Rexhepi, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian prime minister, described Milutinovic's extradition as "better late than never." He insisted that reconciliation in the Balkans would only come when all suspects facing war crimes are brought to justice.

"Many others ... were part of that regime and system," he said.

Milutinovic's most prominent role during his presidency was when he led a Serbian delegation during U.S.-sponsored peace talks on Kosovo with rival ethnic Albanian leaders in France in 1999.

The failure of those talks — largely because of Milutinovic's refusal to sign a peace deal — led to 78 days of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia to punish the Serb leaders for their violent crackdown in Kosovo.

After Milosevic's ouster in 2000, the pro-democracy leadership that succeeded him kept Milutinovic as a figurehead Serbian president and granted him immunity from the U.N. tribunal's prosecution until his presidency expired on Dec. 29.

Serbia's government has asked The Hague court to set Milutinovic free pending the start of his trial because he has agreed to surrender voluntarily and because of his poor health. Milutinovic has had two heart surgeries in the past few years.

Should Milutinovic be released after an initial appearance, the Yugoslav Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it would guarantee that he would return for trial.

The tribunal has said it might consider the government request, but only once Milutinovic faces initial hearings and after he is examined by the court's doctors.

Milutinovic is among the five Serbian officials who were jointly indicted by the U.N. tribunal in 1999 with "command responsibility" during the Kosovo carnage.

Milosevic, former Yugoslav army commander Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic and Milosevic's former aide for Kosovo, Nikola Sainovic, are in tribunal custody. Former Serbian police chief Vlajko Stojiljkovic committed suicide in April 2002 rather than be handed over to the tribunal.

Yugoslavia and its dominant republic, Serbia, continue to face international criticism because several other war crimes suspects, notably former Bosnian Serb army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic and other former Yugoslav army officers, have not been turned over.

By Anthony Deutsch