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Copyright 2002 Associated Press April 11, 2002 Thursday 2:13 PM Eastern Time SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS HEADLINE: War crimes suspect shoots himself BYLINE: DUSAN STOJANOVIC; Associated Press Writer DATELINE: BELGRADE, Yugoslavia A former Serbian police chief indicted for war crimes shot himself in the head Thursday, hours after the Yugoslav parliament adopted a law that allows arrests and extraditions to the U.N. tribunal. Vlajko Stojiljkovic, who headed the police during former President Slobodan Milosevic's reign, fired his pistol in front of the downtown federal parliament building. Hospital sources said they were working to save his life. A police officer at the scene in front of the parliament said Stojiljkovic walked out of the parliament building shortly after 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), appeared to hesitate a few minutes, and then calmly pulled out a pistol and shot himself. He was seen lying in a pool of blood in front of the parliament building's large wooden door. Just a few hours earlier, lawmakers had passed a law that removes legal obstacles for the arrest and extradition of top associates of Milosevic and other war crimes suspects to the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. The extradition law - which applies to about 20 suspects hiding in Yugoslavia - was approved by an 80-39 vote in the 138-seat lower parliament chamber, with the other deputies absent. The 40-seat upper house approved the law Wednesday and it will take effect upon publication in the official gazette, expected within days. Before the vote, Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic, who is in charge of police, predicted quick action. "It can be expected that all the suspects will be handed over to The Hague tribunal by May 1," Zivkovic said. To satisfy a demand by lawmakers from Montenegro, the smaller of Yugoslavia's two republics, who are former allies of Milosevic, the law applies only to suspects already indicted by the U.N. tribunal. Any indicted later would be tried by Yugoslav courts, it says. The law - strongly opposed by allies of Milosevic, who was extradited to the court last year - allows a district court judge to issue warrants and order police to detain suspects. A suspect's transfer to the tribunal would occur within a few weeks, allowing time for appeal. Besides Stojiljkovic, the suspects likely to be extradited first were top Milosevic associates indicted along with the ex-president in connection with atrocities during the 1998-99 crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. They include Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, a former army commander and Nikola Sainovic, a former security adviser. One of the most wanted suspects, Bosnian Serb wartime military leader Gen. Ratko Mladic, is believed to be hiding near Belgrade, in Yugoslavia. He was indicted for genocide in 1995 along with former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, who is thought to be in Bosnia. In addition to allowing extradition, the law will also give U.N. prosecutors access to archives, witnesses and other sources relevant to investigating war crimes. Djindjic, who had faced tough opposition from nationalists and supporters of Milosevic for advocating cooperation with the tribunal, said the law will resolve "all the problems we had with The Hague court and the American administration." The law's passage removes the major obstacle cited opponents of extraditions, including Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who has stressed that suspects should not be sent to the U.N. court without a law regulating the process. Lawmakers from Kostunica's party voted in favor of the bill Thursday, leaving only Milosevic allies against it. The leaders of Serbia, the larger of Yugoslavia's republics, effectively set the country's policy. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was the key architect of Milosevic's arrest and extradition, which was carried out despite resistance from rivals. Milosevic is now on trial for his alleged role in atrocities committed by his troops in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia. The United States has demanded that the other suspects also be handed over to the U.N. court. The U.S. Congress had set a March 31 deadline for economically struggling Yugoslavia to cooperate with the tribunal or lose tens of millions of dollars in financial assistance and U.S. support for loans from international organizations. With the deadline passed, no U.S. assistance checks can be written for Yugoslavia until Powell certifies the country's compliance. _________________________________________________________________ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================