http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=615709&host=3&dir=73
The Independent (UK)
Milosevic power grows after Serbian courts and parliament lean his way
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
01 March 2005
A series of court rulings has highlighted the continuing power and influence
in Serbia of Slobodan Milosevic, despite his absence from the country while
he stands trial for war crimes in The Hague.
In the most recent, the Supreme Courtoverturned the ruling of a lower court
that said Mr Milosevic had illegally obtained a house in the expensive
Dedinje neighbourhood of Belgrade in March 1999, two days before Nato began
its bombing campaign against Serbia.
He paid 2,000 German marks (£700) for the state-owned house and two acres of
land. The lower court had decided that the property had to be returned to
the state.
On the latest ruling, Vladan Batic, who was justice minister in the first
post-Milosevic government of Serbia, said it was "a political decision". He
added: "It can have serious implications".
The Supreme Court is to discuss another appeal by Mr Milosevic, who wants to
receive a lavish presidential pension. A lower court said previously that
such a decision had to await the verdict of the war crimes tribunal. Jail
sentences of more than six months negate state pension rights.
The recent events have contributed towards a revival of Milosevic-era
values, which were given a boost when the nationalist and conservative
government of Vojislav Kostunica came to power last year.
Cases against Mr Milosevic's notorious son Marko, who now lives in exile,
have been dropped in his home town of Pozarevac. A sentence for the illegal
possession of arms against Marija, Mr Milosevic's daughter who lives in
Montenegro, was overruled by a higher court. Mr Milosevic's wife Mira
Markovic, who fled to Russia two years ago, was granted a state pension as a
former university professor.
The rehabilitation of the Milosevic clan has been evident in the Serbian
parliament as well. It has begun a debate on a resolution that should
protect the Milosevics from "further persecution". Mr Milosevic's Socialists
and ultranationalists from the Serbian Radical Party of another war crimes
indictee, Vojislav Seselj, are pushing for a resolution that states "the
human rights of the Milosevics are being violated".
Milosevic-era propaganda is openly disseminated in parliament, whose
sessions are broadcast live on television. Speakers justify Serbia's role in
the wars that led to deaths of more than 250,000 non-Serbs.
Mr Kostunica, the Serbian Prime Minister, has contributed to the atmosphere
himself. In a meeting with local media editors, he made a Milosevic-like
distinction between "patriotic" media, who work "in the interest of the
nation", and those "paid by the West, non-patriotic", who are critical of
his work.
Just like in Mr Milosevic's times, the "non-patriotic" were B92 television
and radio, the weekly Vreme and the Beta news agency.
Serbian News Network - SNN
news@antic.org
http://www.antic.org/
