Serbia's Ex-president to Surrender Himself to UN Court

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, January 20, 2003

Serbia's Ex-president to Surrender Himself to UN Court

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Former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic on Monday will surrender himself to the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to face charges of war crimes, the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug reported on Sunday.

The report quoted senior Yugoslav government official as saying that Milutinovic will travel by plane to the United Nations war crimes tribunal, accompanied by representatives from the Yugoslav government.

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said Thursday the Yugoslav government had reached agreement with Milutinovic on his extradition to the ICTY. The Serbian and Yugoslav governments promised that he would only have to stay at the court for a "very short" time before they go bail for him.

The foreign minister hoped the UN court would approve the bail of Milutinovic, taking into account his poor health and the fact that his presidency ended in a "democratic" manner.

Milutinovic, along with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, had been on the most wanted list of the UN tribunal in The Hague, the Netherlands, since 1999 for war crimes allegedly committed in ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo, a Yugoslav province and a part of the Serbia republic.

The UN court has repeatedly demanded Milutinovic's extradition,but Yugoslav authorities had rejected until the expiration of his presidential term on Dec. 29, saying he was protected by immunity.

Milutinovic, 60, who was elected Serbian president in 1997, has denied the war crimes charges against him.

Milosevic was extradited to the UN war tribunal on June 28, 2001.

In another development on Sunday, the Chief of the General Staff of Yugoslavia's armed forces, Branko Krga, said in a statement that his troops did not protect any war crimes suspect wanted by the ICTY, including former commander in chief of the Bosnian Serb army, Ratko Mladic, as repeatedly alleged by the ICTY.

Tanjug quoted Krga as saying that as Mladic and all other suspects were not members of the Yugoslav army, his troops had no duty to arrest, watch as well as to protect them.

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