POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Milosevic Arrested after 36-Hour Drama,

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Apr 1 2001 (IPS) - Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was arrested early Sunday, after a 36-hour drama that captivated the country.

“The arrest marks the beginning of a long investigation process that should bring this man to justice,” Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic told journalists.

“Mr Milosevic will be questioned by an investigative judge later in the day, after he has rested in the Central Prison of Belgrade,” his lawyer Toma Fila said. “It will take some time for me to study the accusations, as Mr Milosevic contacted me immediately before his arrest.”

A convoy of five cars, including a black BMW with tinted windows, took Milosevic from his residence in the Dedinje neighbourhood of Belgrade to the Central Prison just before dawn Sunday.

Journalists were prevented from getting too close to the entrance to his home, but officials and policemen leaving the compound minutes after the cars sped away confirmed that Milosevic was in the BMW.

Milosevic resided in the so-called White House, a rotund modern villa built for former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito in 1979. His official residence within the same vast complex was destroyed by NATO rockets in April 1999.

It was in front of the gates of the villa that Milosevic’s security guards fired shots at the special police units that had tried to enter the premises and arrest the former Yugoslav leader in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Two policemen and a photographer were injured in the ensuing shootout.

This was the first attempt to arrest Milosevic after the Belgrade prosecutor’s office charged him on Friday with abuse of power and financial embezzlement during his 10 years as leader of the country.

It was by no coincidence that the attempted arrest came in the early hours of Saturday, Mar. 31. That was a deadline the US administration had given Serbia to prove that it was willing to co-operate with The Hague-based International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or lose 100 million dollars in financial aid and access to international financial institutions.

Milosevic was indicted by the tribunal in May 1999 for war crimes against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. But Serbs blame him for turning them into a pariah nation after four lost wars in the 1990s, for precipitating an 11- week NATO air raid against Belgrade in 1999 and for the total economic destruction of the country.

“This arrest is for crimes against Serbia and Serbs,” Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said at a Saturday press conference. He declined to speculate whether or not Milosevic will be handed over to the Tribunal.

“Milosevic has to be tried first for what he did against his own nation,” Justice Minister Batic said at the same press conference.

Analysts agree that the arrest of Milosevic marks another turning point for the country after Oct. 5, last year, when the former strongman was ousted from power after a popular uprising. He had refused to step down after losing the residential elections the previous month to current president Vojislav Kostunica.

“This is another turning point for the country,” analyst Aleksa Djilas told IPS. “There are no doubts that the United States will see this as a victory for their politics. On the other hand, many Serbs will see this as humiliation and final surrender to the pressures of the international community.”

So far, sympathisers of Milosevic in Belgrade or in provincial Serbia have not organised protests because of the arrest of their leader. The popularity of his Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), the re-styled communist party, has declined in the past six months since he fell from power.

The SPS’ attempt to organise so-called “people’s guards” in front of Milosevic’s home during the month of March to prevent his arrest was merely symbolic. This reporter never saw more than 100 supporters at the gates of his home at any one time.

In the early morning hours on Saturday there were several dozens of them, but just before Milosevic’s arrest this morning, there were none.

“Milosevic was hoping to cause broader disturbance or even civil war on Saturday morning when his bodyguards prevented the police from entering the premises,” analyst Dragan Vuksic said. “He is a man who could definitely not see what was going on in September and never came to terms with the fact that he had lost power.”

Zoran Lilic, former president of Yugoslavia and a former close aide to Milosevic, said that “by avoiding arrest on Saturday Milosevic tried to rock the very foundations of the country.

“It is clear that he never thought of the country, but always about himself and power. Once again after Oct. 5 he brought the country to the verge of civil war”.

Highly placed government sources who did not wish to be identified, told IPS that Milosevic “looked devastated” when he was taken into custody early Sunday.

His daughter Marija, who was present at the time of his arrest, fired five shots into the air as her father walked towards the column of cars that was to take him to prison. She shouted at him not to surrender. Milosevic’s wife Mira Markovic looked numb.