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Milosevic faces new atrocity charge
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (CNN) -- Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been presented with an expanded war crimes indictment adding new charges. Milosevic is accused of murder, deportation and prosecution of people on political, racial and ethnic grounds during his tenure as Yugoslav president and Serbian leader. The maximum sentence he could receive if convicted is life in prison. The chief war crimes prosecutor for the U.N. Tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, explained that the amended indictment was based on five new grave sites in Serbia that have yielded more victims.
"It is important ... in the initial appearance that we have the Kosovo indictment almost done," Del Ponte told CNN. Milosevic could face further charges for his role in the Bosnian and Croatian war, which ended with the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995. Del Ponte noted that the the tribunal is "only at the start of the case against Slobodan Milosevic, not at the end." "The transfer of Slobodan Milosevic will now lend renewed energy to the task of arresting those fugitives who are still at liberty," she said. She noted that former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, who were indicted almost six years ago, are still at large. "The fact that they have not been arrested when we are preparing the trial of other members of the Bosnian-Serb leadership is scandalous," she added. Milosevic's lawyers in Belgrade said they had spoken to their client over the telephone and that he said he did not feel guilty and had acted in the interest of the country. Milosevic, 59, was removed from prison in Yugoslavia on Thursday evening and arrived at the tribunal jail at The Hague early Friday morning. He is the first former head of state to be transferred to The Hague for trial. Within hours of his extradition a donors conference in Brussels agreed to provide Yugoslavia with a $1.28 billion aid package. The money will be used to begin rebuilding Yugoslavia after 13 years of Milosevic's economic mismanagement, international sanctions and NATO's 78-day bombing campaign in 1999. But in Yugoslavia theare is some anger at Milosevic's extradition. Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Zizic resigned fromn the federal government in protest and about 6,000 Milosevic supporters gathered in Belgrade on Friday evening. Officials in The Hague said Milosevic had undergone initial check-in procedures, including a physical evaluation, and was being held in a cell at a detention facility. "The next step is his first appearance in court. We expect that to be Tuesday morning," said Jim Landale, a spokesman for the tribunal. At this appearance, prosecutors will read aloud the status of the charges and the indicted suspect would then enter his plea of guilty or not guilty to each charge. Milosevic was indicted in 1999 for the crackdown carried out by security forces in Kosovo against ethnic Albanians before NATO's air war. He was arrested April 1 on allegations of corruption in office and had been held in prison in Belgrade since that time while the allegations were investigated. His new cell in The Hague is located in a prison once used by Nazi occupying forces to detain Dutch resistance fighters. The cell has an en-suite shower room, telephone, satellite television and desk. Milosevic, and the other occupants of the prison, also have access to a kitchen, library, chapel and sports facilities. The special prison unit is spread over four floors with 12 cells each, patrolled by U.N. guards. Inmates may take courses in arts, languages and sciences. They also have the opportunity to see visitors, in private if they are married. |
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