Milosevic could be tried in Belgrade

The UN war crimes tribunal is willing to hold a trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic partly in Belgrade, a senior…

The UN war crimes tribunal is willing to hold a trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic partly in Belgrade, a senior court official said today.

Deputy prosecutor Graham Blewitt also said new indictments charging Milosevic with responsibility for alleged war crimes in Croatia and Bosnia would be issued soon, adding to his existing indictment over the war in Kosovo.

"We're almost poised to be bringing indictments for Croatia and Bosnia as well", Mr Blewitt told the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"I'm a great supporter of trials being held in former Yugoslavia. We are too remote in The Hague...We couldn't hold the entire trial in Serbia because some witnesses would not want to come to Belgrade, but I see part of the trial taking place in Belgrade for Milosevic", he said.

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The prosecutor said the idea had been raised with members of the new reformist government that ousted Milosevic's hardline nationalist regime. He also said it would be legitimate for Serbia to try Milosevic for financial fraud before he faced the international tribunal for war crimes.