Milosevic Supporters Warn of Violence if He Is Arrested

Supporters of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic warned Thursday of violence if authorities make a move to arrest him.

“We don’t want a civil war, but . . . we will disappear as a nation if Slobodan Milosevic disappears,” said Sinisa Vucinic, an organizer of what participants said would be a 24-hour-a-day vigil outside the ousted strongman’s home here in the Yugoslav capital.

“We will guard him and respond adequately to every form of violence with every available means,” said Vucinic, a top official of the Yugoslav Left, a neo-Communist party led by Milosevic’s wife, Mirjana Markovic. “We will meet every form of violence with violence.”

Concern about such a reaction, foreshadowed by a spate of incidents in recent weeks, appears to account for part of the caution shown by Belgrade’s new democratic authorities as they gather evidence against Milosevic and seek to mobilize public support for his arrest. In addition to being indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, the former president has been unofficially accused of crimes ranging from corruption to the ordering of political assassinations.

But in a fresh indication that Milosevic’s arrest may be imminent, the newspaper Glas Javnosti reported in today’s editions--available on Belgrade newsstands Thursday night--that one of Yugoslavia’s most prominent lawyers, Toma Fila, has been hired to represent him.

Asked for confirmation that he would be defending Milosevic, Fila replied, “I will even defend the black devil if need be,” the newspaper reported.

Milosevic supporter Vucinic declined to say whether any of the several dozen people who gathered Thursday afternoon outside the former president’s home in the leafy Dedinje district carried hidden weapons.

But “in the vicinity of this place are people who are very well-armed,” said Vucinic, the founder of the Serbian Falcons, a paramilitary group that fought in Bosnia-Herzegovina as it broke away from the former Yugoslav federation in the summer of 1992. Serbia and Montenegro are the only republics remaining in Yugoslavia.

“I would like to appeal to [Serbian Prime Minister Zoran] Djindjic . . . and the others not to play with a fratricidal war, because if they try to step on these people’s guards violently, then we will respond the way we can, and for sure we will win,” Vucinic said. He added that he believes most police officers and soldiers remain opposed to the arrest of Milosevic, who was ousted from the presidency in October.

Last week, former secret police chief Rade Markovic was arrested on suspicion of ordering an assassination attempt in which four aides to a former opposition leader were killed.

The Markovic arrest is “a litmus test to see what’s going to happen when they go after the big guy,” said James Lyon, the Belgrade-based Serbia specialist for the International Crisis Group, an independent nongovernmental think tank in Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital.

“The next week is basically the time period to see the bombs start going off under cars and the people start getting shot at, and if they don’t, that means the government can continue to move ahead,” Lyon said. “If there isn’t too much of a reaction from the old guard, they’re going to move ahead with more arrests.”

Several incidents in recent weeks appeared aimed at sending a warning to the authorities.

On Jan. 28, a masked gunman wounded the driver for new Serbian secret police chief Goran Petrovic. The gunman approached the car, opened a door and shot the driver, Dragan Jaksic, in both arms. Petrovic was meeting with Prime Minister Djindjic and Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic at the time.

“The nature of this act is such that it is probably a warning to the new authorities,” Djindjic said after the attack. “Our message is that we will continue, with even more determination, our fight against organized crime.”

One of the allegations against Milosevic is that he built a political structure with close gangland links.

Then, on Feb. 6, a jeep used by Cedomir Jovanovic, head of the ruling Democratic Opposition of Serbia bloc in the Serbian parliament, was destroyed when it exploded in a parking lot.

Mihajlovic said Thursday that a police investigation of Milosevic for suspected fraud and theft of state property has been concluded. An investigative court will evaluate the evidence and make a decision about bringing an indictment, Mihajlovic said, according to a report by B-92 Radio.

“Milosevic was our idol,” said a “people’s guard” outside the former president’s residence Thursday who declined to give his name but said he was 70. “He was only defending what is ours. So what’s being done against him is the biggest crime that can be done to a country and a man who is defending his country.

“If necessary to die, if necessary to shed our blood, we’ll do it, but we will not allow ourselves to be broken,” the man said. “If I have no firearms, I can use a pitchfork or an ax, but I’ll use whatever I have to defend my dignity.”