Milosevic Is Sent to U.N. Tribunal

Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president accused of masterminding a decade of Balkan bloodshed, was flown into the arms of international justice here early today, more than two years after his indictment on charges of crimes against humanity.

In a clandestine operation that stirred cries of foul in Yugoslavia and fascination here, two unlighted military helicopters touched down on the roof of The Hague’s Scheveningen Prison at 1:15 a.m., delivering one of the world’s most-wanted men under cover of darkness. A huge dust cloud was all that was visible against the night sky.

“He is in our detention facility,” Jim Landale, spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, said moments later.

Hundreds of onlookers, many of them refugees from the four Balkan wars Milosevic is often accused of inciting, had waited hours to see the deposed Yugoslav leader finally brought to face the U.N. tribunal. They sent up a weak, belated cheer when they heard the thump of rotors overhead.

“Not much for three hours’ wait!” huffed Ljiljana Bajic, a Belgrade resident visiting her emigre son. Her husband, Drago, shrugged but noted, “At least he is here.”

The government of Serbia, the dominant republic of Yugoslavia, justified the transfer of Milosevic to The Hague as a matter of vital interest, despite a ruling by the federal Constitutional Court earlier Thursday that suspended a decree meant to provide the legal basis for the transfer.

The flight of Milosevic to The Hague, which began in Belgrade and made a stop at a U.S. military airfield in Bosnia-Herzegovina, marked the first time that a former head of state has been sent to face trial at the tribunal, which is responsible for prosecuting Balkan war crimes.

His extradition “sent a signal to the world that no one is above the law,” Landale said, calling it “a milestone in the history of international criminal justice.”

In Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said Thursday that failure to show cooperation with the tribunal and hand over the former president would mean “humiliation for our country.”

It also would have meant losing Western aid to rebuild Yugoslavia. The nation’s infrastructure and economy have been devastated by four wars over the past decade as well as NATO bombing in 1999, designed to end “ethnic cleansing” in the Serbian province of Kosovo.

An international conference to discuss aid for Yugoslavia begins today in Brussels, and donor nations have said their contributions are contingent on cooperation with the tribunal. Officials in Belgrade, the Yugoslav and Serbian capital, hope the conference will approve about $1.2 billion in aid for them and launch restructuring of $12 billion in debt.

Late Thursday, in a televised address to the republic, Djindjic declared that “the government of Serbia was forced to protect the interests of the Republic of Serbia because interrupting cooperation with the international tribunal and delaying this cooperation would cause immeasurable negative consequences for the present and future of our country.”

Bush Says U.S. Is Ready to Assist

In Washington, President Bush applauded the decision to extradite Milosevic and pledged that the United States now stands “ready to assist” the Balkan nation in rebuilding both its economy and political system.

“The transfer of Milosevic to The Hague is an unequivocal message to those persons who brought such tragedy and brutality to the Balkans that they will be held accountable for their crimes,” Bush said in a statement released by the White House.

Milosevic and four aides were indicted by the tribunal in May 1999 for crimes against humanity. Since April, he had been held in a Belgrade prison on domestic charges of corruption and abuse of power.

The tribunal’s indictment charges that the five men were responsible for acts of murder, forced deportations and persecution carried out by Yugoslav and Serbian forces against Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority. It specifically cites 344 killings.

Also named in the indictment are Milan Milutinovic, president of Serbia; Nikola Sainovic, former deputy prime minister of Yugoslavia; Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, former chief of staff of the Yugoslav army; and Vlajko Stojiljkovic, former Serbian minister of the interior.

Milosevic is the first of the five men to be turned over to the tribunal. He is to be arraigned within a week, Landale said, but his case before the U.N. tribunal is expected to take months and perhaps years.

Scheveningen already houses 38 others accused of war crimes during the breakup of the former Yugoslav federation. The savage succession of armed attacks and ethnic cleansing began in Slovenia a decade ago, then spread to Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and finally to Kosovo.

Evidence gathered by tribunal investigators from ethnic Albanians expelled from Kosovo after witnessing the torture and killing of loved ones underpins the 1999 indictment.

In a statement released through his lawyer last week, Milosevic described himself as a “moral victor.”

“I was leading the people and armies that stopped the terrible force of the NATO alliance attempting to destroy the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country,” Milosevic said, referring to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 11-week bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

“I have done everything in the interest of the people and the state,” the statement continued. “My conscience is clear.”

The hand-over of Milosevic fell on the most important national anniversary of the Serbian calendar, June 28. On that day in 1389, Serbia was defeated by Turkish forces in the Battle of Kosovo, leading to five centuries of subjugation. Though a defeat, Serbs look back on the battle as a moral victory and a historic event that shaped their national identity.

It was also on June 28 that a Serbian nationalist assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, touching off World War I.

And Thursday was the 12th anniversary of one of the most important speeches of Milosevic’s career, when he commemorated the Battle of Kosovo’s 600th anniversary with a huge rally at the site, the Field of Blackbirds. In his remarks then, Milosevic alluded to the possibility of bloodshed to come.

“Six centuries later, again we are in battles and quarrels,” Milosevic told a crowd estimated at 1 million people. “They are not armed battles, though such things should not be excluded yet.”

Djindjic alluded to this history in his address to the republic.

“Dear citizens of Serbia, exactly 12 years ago . . . Slobodan Milosevic called our people to achieve what he has called ‘ideals of heavenly Serbia,’ ” Djindjic said. “That led to 12 years of wars, catastrophe and collapse of our country.

“The government of the Republic of Serbia took on the obligation today to fulfill the ideals of earthly Serbia, not that much because of us . . . but because of our children, because by this decision, we save the future of our children. I ask you for understanding for such a difficult decision, but the only right one at the moment.”

Milosevic’s supporters expressed outrage at the extradition.

“I cannot believe this has happened,” Milosevic lawyer Toma Fila said after Djindjic’s announcement.

Clause Allows Serbia to Act in Own Interest

The key clause of the Serbian Constitution cited by Djindjic allows the Serbian republic to take actions in its own interest if the federal Yugoslav government’s agencies violate “the equality of the Republic of Serbia or in any other way threaten its interests, without providing compensation.”

The dispute over how to handle the issue of cooperation with The Hague has exacerbated deep divisions within the ruling reformist coalition that took power in Yugoslavia and Serbia in October after street protests forced Milosevic to acknowledge his defeat in an election and surrender power.

The 18-party Democratic Opposition of Serbia group controls the Serbian government, but it rules at the federal level in alliance with the Socialist People’s Party, which is based in Montenegro, Yugoslavia’s smaller republic. That party was previously allied with Milosevic.

Predrag Bulatovic, the leader of the Socialist People’s Party, said after Thursday’s court decision that if the Serbian government sent Milosevic to The Hague, his party would end its coalition with Serbian reformers at the federal level.

While many expect the party to pull its members out of the Yugoslav Cabinet, there have been indications that it has decided not to immediately trigger the fall of the Yugoslav government through a no-confidence vote in the federal parliament.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica--both a coalition ally and political rival of Djindjic, who is widely seen as more powerful--said Thursday evening that “cooperation with The Hague tribunal is certainly necessary” but criticized the way the Serbian government handled it.

“It has been reduced to the pure extradition of indictees without any protection of citizens and finally, protection of the interests of the state itself,” Kostunica said. “Even the most basic procedure has not been respected, as if somebody was in a hurry here.”

Vojin Dimitrijevic, a prominent law professor in Belgrade, pointed out that the clause cited by Djindjic is the only article in the Serbian Constitution in which “Yugoslavia” is mentioned. When the document was written in 1990, Milosevic’s power base was Serbia, and he was still worried that he might not be able to control Yugoslav institutions, including its army. He insisted on this clause so that he could ignore decisions at the federal level if necessary.

The hand-over of Milosevic brought about 4,000 extremely angry supporters into the streets of central Belgrade on Thursday evening. Some journalists, or those suspected by the crowd of being journalists, were beaten. In one case, the crowd attacked a bearded Yugoslav photographer, as some yelled “Don’t beat him!” and others yelled “Kill him!” The man was knocked to the ground and beaten, but he got up and ran away.

About half of the Serbian public has expressed willingness in recent public opinion polls to see Milosevic sent to The Hague. Support for Milosevic has been undermined by recent media reports about mass graves in Serbia containing bodies of civilian victims from Kosovo.

In a new report Thursday, Serbian police said at least 36 bodies of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, including corpses of nine children and a fetus, had been found in a mass grave in a Belgrade suburb. Such sites have been linked to an alleged effort by the Milosevic regime to cover up war crimes.

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Holley reported from Belgrade and Williams from The Hague. Times staff writer Robin Wright in Washington and special correspondent Zoran Cirjakovic in Belgrade contributed to this report.

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Key Excerpt From Serb Constitution Article 135: If acts of the agencies of the [Yugoslav] Federation or acts of the agencies of another republic, in contravention of the rights and duties it has under the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, violate the equality of the Republic of Serbia or in any other way threaten its interests, without providing for compensation, the republic agencies shall issue acts to protect the interests of the Republic of Serbia.