Milosevic linked to war crimes

Milosevic: Under investigation

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Yugoslav authorities have for the first time linked former President Slobodan Milosevic to possible war crimes during the 1999 Kosovo conflict.

Police have launched an investigation amid allegations Milosevic ordered evidence of the crimes to be covered up.

The move could eventually lead to him being extradited to the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

Witnesses say Milosevic ordered police to dump a truck containing bodies of 50 people, believed to be ethnic Albanians, into the Danube River two years ago.

Police are expected to file criminal charges against Milosevic if the investigation shows that he and then-Serbian Minister of Interior Vlajko Stojiljokovic ordered the police to commit and cover-up the crimes.

AUDIO CNN's Christiane Amanpour: Investigation focussed on truckload of 50 bodies 586 K/54 sec AIFF or WAV sound Del Ponte wants Milosevic on genocide charges 906 K/84 sec AIFF or WAV sound Yugoslavian authories are conditioning their people 486 K/45 sec AIFF or WAV sound

The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, has charged Milosevic with atrocities against ethnic Albanians during a 1999 crackdown in Kosovo.

So far Belgrade has only charged him with abuse of power during his 13-year rule and has been reluctant to hand him over.

Although Yugoslav police have not formally charged Milosevic with the war-crimes related offence, observers say their announcement may be the start of attempts to pave the way for his extradition to The Hague.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour said the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, welcomed the new information but reminded Yugoslav authorities that the international tribunal indictments take precedence and Milosevic needs to be sent to The Hague immediately.

Ponte said she is preparing further indictments against Milosevic possibly on the highest and most serious crime in international law -- genocide.

Amanpour said Yugoslav authorities are under enormous pressure to hand Milosevic over and are drafting legislation which would enable them to extradite suspects like Milosevic who have been indicted on war crimes, if local courts find a basis for war crimes accusations.

The fact that the government has linked Milosevic to war crimes signifies it is trying to work through its own legal process, condition its own people and satisfy international demands, Amanpour said.

Another change in the legal process could open all the files Milosevic's secret police compiled on citizens labeled "internal enemies" and make them available to the public, the Reuters news agency reported.

Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic has demanded -- in a documented obtained by Reuters on Friday -- that the government remove the "state secret" mark from all the files and provide the public with access to them.

The document says that Serbians who believe they were targeted by Milosevic's secret police will have access to their files once the Interior Ministry has pushed through a special law approving the change.

A Serbian government source told Reuters the authorities had accepted the minister's demand.

The conflict in Kosovo, the southern province of Yugoslavia's main republic Serbia, erupted in 1998, with ethnic Albanians seeking independence battling Serb-led government troops.

It ended when NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslav forces accused of committing atrocities under Milosevic, then Yugoslav president.