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Copyright 2002 Associated Press
April 11, 2002 Thursday 2:13 PM Eastern Time
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
HEADLINE: War crimes suspect shoots himself
BYLINE: DUSAN STOJANOVIC; Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: BELGRADE, Yugoslavia
A former Serbian police chief indicted for war crimes shot himself in
the head Thursday, hours after the Yugoslav parliament adopted a law
that allows arrests and extraditions to the U.N. tribunal.
Vlajko Stojiljkovic, who headed the police during former President
Slobodan Milosevic's reign, fired his pistol in front of the downtown
federal parliament building. Hospital sources said they were working
to save his life.
A police officer at the scene in front of the parliament said
Stojiljkovic walked out of the parliament building shortly after 7
p.m. (1700 GMT), appeared to hesitate a few minutes, and then calmly
pulled out a pistol and shot himself. He was seen lying in a pool of
blood in front of the parliament building's large wooden door.
Just a few hours earlier, lawmakers had passed a law that removes
legal obstacles for the arrest and extradition of top associates of
Milosevic and other war crimes suspects to the tribunal in The Hague,
Netherlands.
The extradition law - which applies to about 20 suspects hiding in
Yugoslavia - was approved by an 80-39 vote in the 138-seat lower
parliament chamber, with the other deputies absent. The 40-seat upper
house approved the law Wednesday and it will take effect upon
publication in the official gazette, expected within days.
Before the vote, Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic, who is in
charge of police, predicted quick action.
"It can be expected that all the suspects will be handed over to The
Hague tribunal by May 1," Zivkovic said.
To satisfy a demand by lawmakers from Montenegro, the smaller of
Yugoslavia's two republics, who are former allies of Milosevic, the
law applies only to suspects already indicted by the U.N. tribunal.
Any indicted later would be tried by Yugoslav courts, it says.
The law - strongly opposed by allies of Milosevic, who was extradited
to the court last year - allows a district court judge to issue
warrants and order police to detain suspects. A suspect's transfer to
the tribunal would occur within a few weeks, allowing time for
appeal.
Besides Stojiljkovic, the suspects likely to be extradited first were
top Milosevic associates indicted along with the ex-president in
connection with atrocities during the 1998-99 crackdown on ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo.
They include Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, a former army commander and
Nikola Sainovic, a former security adviser.
One of the most wanted suspects, Bosnian Serb wartime military leader
Gen. Ratko Mladic, is believed to be hiding near Belgrade, in
Yugoslavia. He was indicted for genocide in 1995 along with former
Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, who is thought to be
in Bosnia.
In addition to allowing extradition, the law will also give U.N.
prosecutors access to archives, witnesses and other sources relevant
to investigating war crimes.
Djindjic, who had faced tough opposition from nationalists and
supporters of Milosevic for advocating cooperation with the tribunal,
said the law will resolve "all the problems we had with The Hague
court and the American administration."
The law's passage removes the major obstacle cited opponents of
extraditions, including Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who
has
stressed that suspects should not be sent to the U.N. court without a
law regulating the process. Lawmakers from Kostunica's party voted in
favor of the bill Thursday, leaving only Milosevic allies against it.
The leaders of Serbia, the larger of Yugoslavia's republics,
effectively set the country's policy. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran
Djindjic was the key architect of Milosevic's arrest and extradition,
which was carried out despite resistance from rivals. Milosevic is
now
on trial for his alleged role in atrocities committed by his troops
in
Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia.
The United States has demanded that the other suspects also be handed
over to the U.N. court. The U.S. Congress had set a March 31 deadline
for economically struggling Yugoslavia to cooperate with the tribunal
or lose tens of millions of dollars in financial assistance and U.S.
support for loans from international organizations.
With the deadline passed, no U.S. assistance checks can be written
for
Yugoslavia until Powell certifies the country's compliance.
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