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U.N. Arrest Warrant Delivered To Milosevic
BELGRADE, April 6 (News Agencies) - U.N. officials presented an arrest warrant for Slobodan Milosevic to Yugoslavia's justice minister Friday, summoning the former president to answer war crimes charges before an international tribunal.
Justice Minister Momcilo Grubac promised to deliver the document to Milosevic in his Belgrade jail cell, said Hans Holthius, the registrar for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), based in The Hague.
"I handed over the indictment and warrant for the arrest and Mr. Grubac promised to have it served to Mr. Milosevic in person," said Holthius.
Court spokesman Jim Landale told AFP Grubac would give the warrant to Milosevic next week.
"He made a commitment to do so quickly ... we expect it to be served to Milosevic next week," said Landale.
Serbian police arrested Milosevic Sunday on Yugoslav charges of corruption and abuse of power, but he may yet face more serious offenses, perhaps even war crimes and ordering the killings of political opponents.
The ICTY indicted Milosevic in May 1999 on charges of war crimes allegedly committed when his forces tried to empty Kosovo of its ethnic Albanian population, driving more than 800,000 people from their homes.
The court's chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has said she has also prepared an indictment against the former Balkans strongman for his role in the brutal 1992-95 war in Bosnia, which left around 200,000 people dead.
The delivery of the arrest warrant underscored the tribunal's determination to put Milosevic on trial.
Belgrade has said it cannot extradite its citizens to stand trial abroad under present laws, although Grubac said a draft law on cooperation with the ICTY would go before the federal parliament before the end of May.
Del Ponte has argued that the ICTY is not a country and that handing Milosevic over would constitute a transfer rather than an extradition.
And Landale stressed that handing over Milosevic was "not an extradition but a surrender."
"To be absolutely crystal clear, the legal framework already exists for the immediate surrender of Milosevic," he said, but hinted the court could take a more conciliatory line as Belgrade amends its statute.
He said the ICTY would probably wait that long before turning up the heat at the U.N. Security Council.
"As long as this law acts as an accelerator rather than a brake ... and breaks down barriers," the court will not insist on immediate extradition, he said.
But he warned, "If there is the perception that they are dragging their feet ... or delaying the inevitable, then appropriate steps will be taken by the appropriate organs in the tribunal."
Holthius said he had been given a copy of the draft law during what he termed "very useful and satisfactory discussions".
His comments came after Western leaders eased off pressure after the new authorities threw the ex-president in prison last weekend.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Wednesday that he fully backed Belgrade's plans to try Milosevic for stealing public funds, but stressed that afterwards he must be transferred to The Hague to answer for the four wars he led his country into in the last decade.
Milosevic claimed in his appeal against the 30-day investigative custody order on him that he had not used the missing state money for personal gain but to fund Serb forces fighting in Bosnia and Croatia as they split off from the former Yugoslavia.
His appeal was rejected on Tuesday.
Belgrade insists that the ICTY should start indicting other regional leaders from countries involved in the Balkans conflicts, saying cases so far have focused exclusively on Serb wartime leaders.
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has called the U.N. court political and slanted against Serbs, and Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic said after meeting ICTY officials here Thursday that it must indict the political head of Kosovo's disbanded Albanian rebels, Hashim Thaci.
Thaci now heads a political party in the U.N.-run province and is a member of the internationally sponsored joint administrative council.
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