Milosevic served with UN war crimes arrest warrant
A Belgrade court has served Slobodan Milosevic with an arrest warrant issued by the UN war crimes tribunal, along with a list of the war crimes charges against him.
The document was handed to Milosevic so he can get acquainted with its content, the Belgrade District Court said in a statement.
The move ends a dispute over whether the indictment had actually been handed over to Milosevic after it was presented to Yugoslav authorities.
The indictment was handed over last month by Hans Holthuis, chief registrar of the court, based in The Hague, Netherlands.
The former president was detained on April 1 on suspicion of corruption and other violations of Yugoslav laws during his 13-year rule. Yugoslav authorities have so far prevented his extradition to The Hague court, which has indicted him on war crimes charges in connection with atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
The statement from the Belgrade court was an apparent reaction to a protest issued just hours earlier by Holthuis, who again demanded that Milosevic, as well as four of his close associates also indicted on war crimes charges, be served the official documents without any further delay.
Milosevic originally was to be detained in the Belgrade prison for one month. On Monday, his detention was extended by two more months to give authorities more time to build a case against him here.
Milosevic's lawyer, Toma Fila, has confirmed he had filed an official complaint with Serbia's Supreme Court about the detention. He promised Milosevic would not flee the country - one of the reasons stated for continuing his detention.
Fila and Milosevic's supporters have claimed the former president's health has deteriorated while in prison and his life was in danger. Doctors who examined Milosevic have said he only has high blood pressure, which is not life threatening.
