[ALBSA-Info] Milosevic under guard

[Iris Pilika]

Milosevic under guard

Milosevic has been placed under 24-hour guard by the new Serb government
February 1, 2001
Web posted at: 1734 GMT


BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has 
been placed under 24-hour police surveillance by the Serbia's new 
government.

Serbia's new interior minister Dusan Mihajlovic, asked on Thursday if he had 
carried out the threat he made before taking office to put Milosevic under 
watch, said: "You can take it that it's been done."

Mihajlovic, appointed last week as part of Serbia's new government, had 
promised to take the measure because Milosevic is wanted by the U.N. war 
crimes tribunal and is also, he said, being investigated by local justice 
authorities.

Many reformist Serbian and Yugoslav leaders have said Milosevic should not 
be transferred to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, which has indicted him on 
Kosovo war crimes charges.

They accuse the tribunal of anti-Serb bias and say Milosevic should stand 
trial in a domestic court on charges of vote-rigging and corruption.

Milosevic is widely believed to be still living in the former official 
presidential residence in Belgrade's exclusive Dedinje suburb.

Mihajlovic said Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who took office in 
October after a mass uprising forced Milosevic from power, had allowed his 
predecessor to remain in the residence.

"Kostunica did not want to move in and he left it for Milosevic to use. That 
is their arrangement," Mihajlovic said.

He said the building was being guarded by the Yugoslav army as it was 
federal government property and a special police unit was responsible for 
protecting Milosevic himself.

The guard on Milosevic comes days after Zoran Djindjic, Serbia's new prime 
minister, sacked Rade Markovic, the state security chief and a key ally of 
Milosevic.

Djindic is among those who have pledged to hold Milosevic accountable for 
past crimes.

"We shall not organise a witch hunt, but we won't let the members of the 
former regime hold on to the assets they plundered from the people," 
Djindjic said.


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