War crimes trial looms for Serbian president

Early elections in Serbia that will pave the way for the president of the republic to be surrendered to the International War Crimes Tribunal were announced yesterday.

The presidential election, to be held on 29 September, will shorten the five-year term of Milan Milutinovic by three months. It is almost certain he will be transferred to the tribunal at The Hague once the new leader is in place.

Mr Milutinovic is charged with war crimes in Kosovo, along with Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, and three of Mr Milosevic's other aides. He is the last to remain at large.

After Mr Milosevic was extradited to the tribunal last year in April, Vlajko Stojiljkovic, his police chief, committed suicide. The two other aides, Nikola Sainovic and General Dragoljub Ojdanic, surrendered to the court in May.

Mr Milutinovic survived the fall of Mr Milosevic in 2000 because the victorious Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) did not regard him as a dangerous opponent.

The election for the post of Serbian president will be the first held without the shadow of Mr Milosevic, who held the post from 1990 to 1997.

The Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, has already expressed his intention of running for the post, perhaps prompted by the uncertain future of the Yugoslav federation.

Since 2000, Mr Kostunica and his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), which used to be part of the 18-member DOS that toppled Mr Milosevic, have turned their backs on the rest of the reform-minded coalition. The DOS is expected to put forward its own presidential candidate, Miroljub Labus, the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, a prominent economic expert.