THE NETHERLANDS: The right-hand man of Mr Slobodan Milosevic during a Serb crackdown in Kosovo joined his former leader behind bars in The Hague yesterday to face charges of waging a 1999 terror campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
The former Yugoslav deputy premier, Mr Nikola Sainovic (53) indicted alongside Mr Milosevic for mass killings and expulsions of Kosovo Albanians, is the second member of Mr Milosevic's inner circle to surrender to the court in a week.
Mr Sainovic's voluntary surrender is a landmark for tribunal prosecutors after they indicted Mr Milosevic and four members of his inner sanctum for war crimes in Kosovo in 1999. Two have surrendered, one committed suicide and one remains at large.
Mr Milosevic and his former colleagues are charged with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war, including responsibility for the murder of about 900 Kosovo Albanians and the expulsion of about 800,000 from the province.
"It is alleged that the operations targeting the Kosovo Albanians were undertaken with the objective of expelling a substantial portion of the Kosovo Albanian population from Kosovo in an effort to ensure continued Serb control," prosecutors said.
The surrender of one of Mr Milosevic's closest allies to the court follows hard on the heels of the Yugoslav parliament's decision last month to pass a law on co-operation with the court to ease intense financial and political pressure from the West.
Mr Milosevic, on trial since February on charges of spearheading ethnic cleansing in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, has refused to plead to the charges against him and has branded the tribunal a kangaroo court.
Mr Sainovic is to appear in court today to enter a plea to one count of violations of the laws and customs of war and four counts of crimes against humanity, a tribunal spokesman said. Another Serb war crimes suspect, charged in a separate indictment dating back to the Bosnian war of 1992-95, also surrendered to the tribunal yesterday after flying with Mr Sainovic to the Netherlands.
Mr Momcilo Gruban is charged with presiding over the killing, rape, sexual assault, beating and humiliation of non-Serbs at the notorious Omarska prison camp in Bosnia in 1992. The court has already tried and convicted others on similar charges.
Mr Gruban and Mr Sainovic were taken to the tribunal's detention centre in The Hague, where Mr Milosevic has been held since he was handed over to the court by Belgrade last year.
Yugoslavia recently published a list of 23 people wanted by the tribunal and appealed for them to surrender to the court or face arrest. The majority have so far failed to come forward. Belgrade has come under heavy Western pressure, including a freeze in much-needed US aid, to co-operate with the court by handing over more war crimes fugitives and granting access to secret police and army files.
Last week, former army chief Mr Dragoljub Ojdanic voluntarily flew to The Hague. The current Serbian president, Mr Milan Milutinovic, is the only suspect to remain at large from a group of four Milosevic insiders indicted with their former leader. The former Serbian Internal Affairs Minister, Mr Vlajko Stojiljkovic, killed himself last month.
Radio S, controlled by Mr Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia, carried a statement by Mr Sainovic made late on Wednesday.
"I concluded that the only rational solution was to respond to the government's call and continue my struggle for defending the truth in The Hague," he said. "This is not an easy or simple task, but it is my duty and obligation, especially for the respect of those who gave their lives for this country."
Mr Sainovic's attorney, Mr Toma Fila, told reporters his client hoped the tribunal would allow him to await trial at liberty, as it had done for some suspects who surrendered.
"I expect to bring Mr Sainovic back in about three months. I expect him to enter a plea of not guilty on Friday afternoon," Mr Fila said at Belgrade airport.
Mr Sainovic was Mr Milosevic's main representative for Kosovo and a close political ally.