UN tribunal official hands over Milosevic indictment to Belgrade authorities

An official of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today presented the Belgrade authorities with a copy of its indictment against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Registrar Hans Holthuis was holding discussions with the Yugoslav authorities to remind them of their obligations to cooperate with the Tribunal, including by transferring Milosevic into the custody of the Tribunal in The Hague, a United Nations spokesman said today.

According to the Tribunal's rules, when an accused person is arrested, the State in question must detain him and promptly notify the Registrar. Rule 57 specifies that the transfer of the accused to the seat of the Tribunal "shall be arranged between the State authorities concerned, the authorities of the host country and the Registrar."

The indictment against Mr. Milosevic charges him and four others with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war during a "systematic attack directed against the Kosovo Albanian civilian population of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)."

Among other criminal acts committed under Mr. Milosevic's leadership, the forces of the FRY and Serbia "forcibly expelled and internally displaced hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians from their homes across the entire province of Kosovo" by using threats and violence to create an atmosphere of fear and oppression, according to the indictment.