Arrest warrant re-issued for Milosevic

The Hague, Netherlands -- An arrest warrant for former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been re-issued by the United Nations' chief war crimes prosecutor during her trip to Belgrade.

Carla Del Ponte had asked for the warrant before three days of talks with leading politicians including president Vojislav Kostunica in the first visit by a U.N. war crimes prosecutor to Serbia.

She is expected to demand the extradition of Milosevic, but the warrant also includes a new call for the Belgrade authorities to freeze the assets of Milosevic and four others.

The tribunal indicted Milosevic in May 1999 for alleged crimes against humanity in the crackdown he ordered on Kosovo Albanians, which ended after 78 days of NATO airstrikes.

IN-DEPTH

Yugoslavia in Transition

  • Balkan hotspots
  • War crimes defendants
  • Milosevic profile
  • Kostunica profile
  • Ambition and wealth
  • Timeline 1945-2000
  • Shrinking of Yugoslavia
  • Message board
  • Sanctions highlights
  • Sick society
  • Aftermath of an uprising
  • Serbia: A day of change
  • Protest in pictures

Kostunica, who replaced Milosevic in October following a popular uprising, has been a staunch critic of the tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, criticising it for allegedly being "politicised."

The tribunal's request had previously been restricted to U.N. members and Switzerland, which at the time excluded Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia was admitted into the U.N. on November 1, 2000, after eight years in the wilderness.

Milosevic, and the other four -- Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, ex-Yugoslav Defence Minister Dragoljub Ojdanic and former Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojilkovic -- are indicted for alleged crimes against humanity.

The new warrants, issued by Judge David Hunt, called on Belgrade to make enquiries to discover whether Milosevic and the others held assets in the country and to freeze them until the accused are taken into custody.

Hunt also stressed that Yugoslavia, in accordance with a U.N. Security Council resolution, was obliged to co-operate fully with the tribunal.

Kostunica initially said he would not meet Del Ponte but changed his mind last week, saying he wanted to discuss NATO's use of depleted uranium munitions in Kosovo and other issues.

Repeating his main argument -- that domestic law bars the extradition of Yugoslav nationals -- he said there "must be co-operation with the tribunal (only) within the existing Yugoslav laws."

That interpretation has been challenged by other ranking Yugoslav officials, who argue that the U.N. status of the tribunal means it is "extra-territorial" and as a result extraditions would be permitted.

Del Ponte also planned to present Yugoslav authorities with new evidence against key suspects in atrocities committed during Balkan wars of the past decade.

Kostunica has suggested that Milosevic and others could be tried by a Yugoslav court where Milosevic may have to answer for such offences as corruption, vote-rigging, fraud and leading the country into four destructive Balkan wars.

During Del Ponte's visit, Belgrade was also expected to officially open a tribunal office.

A minor pro-Milosevic group, the Patriotic Alliance, called for street protests against Del Ponte's visit.

It said that instead of "putting the entire Serb nation" on trial, The Hague tribunal should charge NATO with "killing the Serb children and destroying the country" during its 1999 airstrikes against Yugoslavia.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.