The UN war crimes prosecutor, Ms Carla Del Ponte, has put the finishing touches to her case against the former Yugoslav president, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, signing a new charge over his role during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, her spokeswoman said yesterday.
The third and final indictment against Mr Milosevic - expected to include genocide - was signed last week, said Ms Florence Hartmann, a spokeswoman for Ms Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The new indictment had been widely expected for several months but it still has to be confirmed by a judge before it can become legally valid. It is thought almost certain to accuse the former Yugoslav leader of genocide - the most serious war crimes offence.
The Muslim member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Mr Beriz Belkic, yesterday welcomed the new indictment. He said it was the "matter of justice which will strengthen the trust in the tribunal".
The indictment "officially confirms the responsibility" of Mr Milosevic's regime for "three wars" in the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, Mr Belkic added.
The three charges now lined up against Mr Milosevic relate to three conflicts. The first, dated May 25th, 1999, concerns his alleged responsibility for the war in Kosovo. The second describes his role in the Croatian conflict, while the latest - and legally the most dangerous for Mr Milosevic - concerns the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.
Because the new charge is also the largest in terms of documentation, its confirmation is not expected immediately. Fifteen separate sections of evidence must first be closely examined by judges, Ms Hartmann said.
Ms Del Ponte said at the end of September that her team of investigators would need several more weeks to conclude the charge relating to Bosnia.
The delay arose from the difficulty of proving that the chain of command led to Mr Milosevic.
Genocide is a particularly difficult charge to prove. The activities of local Serb forces in Bosnia and Croatia were known to be carefully separated from the hierarchy in Belgrade. Ms Del Ponte's case will have to prove this link.
In June, Serbia yielded to intense international pressure and transferred the 60-year-old Milosevic to The Hague.
The war in Bosnia was the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts, leaving some 200,000 people dead and creating hundreds of thousands of refugees.
In October last year, Mr Milosevic stepped down as head of the troubled Yugoslav state after 13 years of iron rule after massive public protests.
A former Yugoslav navy officer surrendered to the tribunal yesterday after flying to the Netherlands to face charges linked to the shelling of Dubrovnik in 1991.
Former Vice Admiral Miodrag Jokic is one of four ex-members of the Yugoslav military charged by The Hague-based court with responsibility for dozens of civilian deaths during the shelling of the Croatian port city.
Members of Serbian special police units ended their nine-hour blockade of the main Belgrade motorway yesterday, the third day of protest to press demands for clearer rules on the arrest of war crimes suspects.
About 100 members boarded 20 armoured personnel carriers which they had earlier used to block a section of the highway, turning the vehicles towards their base in Kula, 140 km north of Belgrade.