[ALBSA-Info] WorldNews.com article: "Serb Reporter Handed Over to Court"

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The Associated Press (Thu 11 May 2000)
Serb Reporter Handed Over to Court

NIS, Yugoslavia (AP) -- A Serb reporter who was detained by police for 
writing about alleged atrocities committed by the Yugoslav army in 
Kosovo was handed over to a military court Thursday and could face 
espionage charges. 

Miroslav Filipovic, a reporter for Belgrade's independent Danas daily, 
was arrested Monday at his home in the central Serbian town of 
Kraljevo. On Thursday, he was transferred to the military court in the 
southern Serbian city of Nis, about 120 miles south of Belgrade. 

"Mr. Filipovic has been brought to us and he is in detention ... under 
suspicion that he committed the criminal act of espionage," said Col. 
Vukadin Milojevic, who heads the court. A decision on whether to charge 
Filipovic was due by Saturday. 

Last month, Filipovic wrote about an alleged secret Yugoslav army 
intelligence report on soldiers' atrocities against Kosovo Albanians 
during NATO's 78-day intervention to stop a government crackdown in the 
Serbian province. 

He wrote that the report included testimony from a Yugoslav army 
commander admitting he watched in horror as a soldier decapitated a 
three-year-old ethnic Albanian boy in front of his family. Another 
described how tanks in his unit indiscriminately shelled a Kosovo 
Albanian village before paramilitary police moved in and massacred the 
survivors. 

Police inspectors searched Filipovic's apartment before arresting him, 
confiscating documents and articles. 

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's regime has been cracking down 
on independent media, banning and fining newspapers critical of his 
policies. 

Scores of independent reporters and opposition activists were detained 
Monday and Tuesday, when the government launched a major sweep to block 
a planned opposition rally in Pozarevac, Milosevic's hometown. 

In a further sign of the government's crackdown, a Pozarevac judge was 
removed from office and the local state prosecutor offered his 
resignation Thursday, after both officials had attended the opposition 
rally, the private Beta news agency reported. 

Meanwhile, opposition parties announced another anti-government rally 
in the Yugoslav capital and more protests throughout Serbia, including 
Pozarevac. Opposition leaders said the protest in Belgrade, scheduled 
for Monday, was "a matter of honor." 
Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or 
redistributed.