[ALBSA-Info] Belgrade's drawn-out drama Waiting for Milosevic

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Belgrade's drawn-out drama Waiting for Milosevic

By Andrew Gray

BELGRADE, March 2 (Reuters) - Increasingly bold steps by Serbian prosecutors 
in the direction of Slobodan Milosevic have prompted plenty of speculation 
that his arrest is imminent. 

Scenting a big story, a pack of star newshounds from foreign television 
networks has converged on Belgrade in anticipation that the former president 
will soon be behind bars. 

But, almost a week after the arrest of Milosevic's secret police chief, they 
are still waiting. 

That doesn't mean their wait will be in vain, although it has already lasted 
longer than some excited reports about an imminent arrest or his purchase of 
a "luxury villa" suggested. 

A senior source in the ruling DOS reform alliance has told Reuters he will be 
"disappointed" if Milosevic is not in jail by March 10. That deadline was 
also mentioned by an anonymous DOS source in a report by the local Beta news 
agency this week. 

But in the meantime, in the tense waiting game, any morsel of news can cause 
a feeding frenzy. 

When a prosecutor asked police on Wednesday to look into stories in the press 
that Milosevic sold more than a million dollars' worth of state gold, it set 
off a round of reports that this was the first investigation into the 
longtime leader. 

In fact, a probe into Milosevic's 1999 purchase of a house in Belgrade's posh 
Dedinje suburb is much further advanced and prosecutors have already decided 
there is enough evidence to charge him, judicial and political sources say. 

INVESTIGATIONS WIDENED 

They say they have not filed charges yet because the investigation has been 
widened to include more suspects. 

The house is in an upmarket area, just along Uzicka street from the official 
residence Milosevic continues to occupy nearly five months after his 
downfall, but it is no luxury villa. 

It reputedly has a total area of less than 100 square metres (1,000 sq feet) 
and, if you peak through the gaps between the grey wall and the high green 
fencing, it looks more like a little bungalow. 

It has one key attraction for Milosevic and his wife Mira -- the land adjoins 
another house they own on a parallel street, giving them a large walled 
compound all to themselves. 

Milosevic's Socialists insist he is conducting "business as usual" despite 
the frenzy around his future, which they have condemned as an unjustified 
witch-hunt. 

"President Milosevic is normally carrying out his functions as president of 
this party. There is no state of emergency," top Socialist official Ana 
Djurovic said on Thursday. 

Reform leaders are under both domestic and foreign pressure to act against 
the former president, who has been indicted by a U.N. tribunal on Kosovo war 
crimes charges. 

Western powers have given them a period of grace after the mass uprising 
which ousted Milosevic last October. But they have made clear they cannot 
have normal ties with a country where indicted war criminals remain free and 
active in public life. 

The U.S. Congress has given Belgrade until March 31 to start cooperating with 
the tribunal or see their $100 million economic aid allocation for this year 
frozen. 

Few diplomats here expect Serbia's rulers to hand over Milosevic as quickly 
as that. They are more hopeful the authorities might hand over a less 
high-profile suspect. 

EASE PRESSURE FROM U.S. 

But having Milosevic behind bars in Serbia, on whatever charge, would help 
Belgrade persuade the United States they are dealing with the country's 
troubled recent past and would make at least the logistics of a transfer to 
The Hague easier. 

"If Milosevic is in jail for any reason, it's a lot better than if he's not 
in jail," one Western diplomat remarked when a previous spate of arrest 
rumours was doing the rounds. 

Another diplomat suggested this week the reformers would be wise to move 
against Milosevic well before the U.S. deadline to avoid giving the 
impression of being in Washington's pocket. 

A judicial source has cautioned, however, that the charges he could face for 
allegedly giving a false picture of his assets when he applied to buy the 
house from the state at a knock-down price are not normally grave enough for 
an arrest before trial. 

An exception could be made in Milosevic's case. But generally investigators 
would need to come up with more serious offences to put a suspect in custody 
before a conviction. 

Some reformers had predicted that Rade Markovic, the former secret police 
chief arrested on suspicion he ordered an assassination attempt on an 
opponent of Milosevic, would give them the evidence they wanted. 

But Markovic has apparently denied any involvement in the October 1999 car 
crash in which opposition leader Vuk Draskovic was slightly injured and four 
of his associates killed. 

Reformers still voice confidence Markovic will cooperate with them eventually 
but stress they want to have a strong and serious case against Milosevic 
before they arrest him. 

"How do you think it would look if we arrested him and then had to release 
him?" asked one DOS official.