BELGRADE, April 1 (Hina) - A former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, known as the Butcher of the Balkans for several horrendous wars he launched in that peninsula, was apprehended in Belgrade at about 04.30 am Sunday following
a 30-hour-long stand-off between the police and his security guards, and was whisked away to prison.
BELGRADE, April 1 (Hina) - A former Yugoslav president, Slobodan
Milosevic, known as the Butcher of the Balkans for several
horrendous wars he launched in that peninsula, was apprehended in
Belgrade at about 04.30 am Sunday following a 30-hour-long stand-
off between the police and his security guards, and was whisked away
to prison.#L#
The news about Milosevic's apprehension was first broadcast by a
local radio station B-92.
Later on, the Serbian interior minister, Dusan Mihajlovic,
confirmed at a brief news conference that Milosevic had been
arrested on early Sunday morning, after long negotiations which
authorities had conducted with this former dictator about his
surrender. According to some unconfirmed reports the incumbent
Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, took part in the
negotiations.
According to several news agencies, a few shots were heard in
Milosevic's villa during his surrender.
Subsequently Mihajlovic said that seeing his father being taken
away by police, Milosevic's daughter Marija had fired five bullets
from her pistol around herself "in a fit of anger" but there were no
injuries.
Mihajlovic confirmed that Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, and
daughter were with Milosevic in their villa during the operation of
his arrest.
Besides them, there were also inside the building some top
officials of Milosevic's party (Socialist Party of Serbia or SPS) -
Ivica Dacic and Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic - who participated in the
negotiations on his surrender.
The Serbian Interior Ministry stated this morning that Milosevic
was nabbed for criminal acts such as graft, abuse of office and
falsification of official documents referring to the purchase of a
private villa.
Minister Mihajlovic said there was no need for the use of force
during the operation of Milosevic's apprehension.
Milosevic is being currently interrogated by an investigating
judge.
After his arrest, his wife and daughter remained in their villa and
there were some 50 Milosevic's followers outside.
The former Serbian and Yugoslav president is indicted by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
of the ethnic cleansing of Albanians from Kosovo. ICTY Chief
Prosecutor Carla del Ponte has announced that the indictment will
be enlarged and amended by charges of war crimes he is responsible
for which were committed during the wars he launched in Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina in early 1990s.
The Tribunal and the international community insist on Milosevic's
extradition to the headquarters of the ICTY in The Hague.
(hina) ms