6 Electoral Commissioners Indicted in Yugoslavia

A Belgrade court Tuesday indicted six members of electoral commissions responsible for the disputed Yugoslav presidential vote that prompted a mass uprising to drive Slobodan Milosevic from power.

But it dropped charges against Milosevic, saying there was no evidence to show that he, or anyone else, had put pressure on the commissions to make their decisions.

The Belgrade public prosecutor’s office indicted the Federal Electoral Commission’s president and three of its members on charges that they abused their official functions.

It also indicted the presidents of local electoral commissions in the towns of Vranje and Prokuplje, which were responsible for votes from internationally controlled Kosovo.

In September, the Federal Electoral Commission published results that would have necessitated a runoff between Milosevic and present Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.

Kostunica’s backers hotly disputed the result, insisting that he had won the first round outright.

They staged protests across Serbia, Yugoslavia’s main republic, to force Milosevic to concede defeat, culminating Oct. 5 in Belgrade when they took over parliament and state television. Milosevic formally admitted defeat in a television address the next day.