-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ex-Serb President Heads to U.N. Tribunal January 20, 2003 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 8:42 a.m. ET THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- 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 former Yugoslav leader, who is facing charges of genocide and other war crimes before the U.N. court. On Monday, a tribunal official said on condition of anonymity that Milosevic was recovering from the flu and that hearings in his trial would not resume until Tuesday. It was the fifth day hearings were called off since proceedings resumed last week following a three-week holiday recess. 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 airstrikes 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. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Yugoslavia-War-Crimes.html?ex=1044073802&ei=1&en=b29d7a8f038a7e4e HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
