BELGRADE (Radio B92) – Sunday, April 1, 2001 (GMT+2) 6:22 – Slobodan Milosevic is now under heavy guard at Belgrade central prison following his arrest a short while ago, the Serbian interior minister has confirmed.
The ex-Yugoslav president was arrested at his villa in the early hours of this morning. He was driven out of his home in a speeding motorcade, which headed into the city, at around 4.30am.
The Serbian interior minister Dusan Mihajlovic later confirmed for B92 that Milosevic was being held on a joint criminal charge. No further details were forthcoming.
In the event, the arrest appears to have passed off peacefully. Four or five gunshots were heard from the direction of his villa at around 3.45am, but there have been no reports of any injuries.
The Serbian interior minister Dusan Mihajlovic later told B92 that he believed the shots to have been fired by Milosevic’s daughter Marija out of ”excitement”.
It is thought that Milosevic, who earlier said he would not be taken to jail alive, eventually put up no struggle.
However, there was a heavy special police presence at the villa all evening, with units apparently ready to go in and arrest him forcibly if necessary.
A Socialist Party of Serbia official denied that Milosevic had “surrendered”, saying that he had merely decided “voluntarily to co-operate with the investigation”.
Branislav Ivkovic claimed there had been “no negotiations” and that the decision had been taken by Milosevic alone as he wanted to “spare the lives” of those in the compound.
So far this evening, there have been no reports of any clashes outside the villa by the Milosevic supporters gathered there.
They had been forced back away from the villa itself earlier in the evening. Most had already left by the time the long-awaited arrest was carried out.
B92’s correspondents at the scene report that those waiting by the back exit road were mainly journalists. Onlookers put up no resistance as a line of special police in bulletproof jackets filed out from the direction of the compound and moved them aside.
When the one jeep followed by four cars drove past them at top speed at around 4.30am, it was unclear if one of them was carrying the ex-president.
However, as the news filtered through that Milosevic had indeed been arrested, the crowd merely began to disperse peacefully.
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Timeline: Slobodan Milosevic
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is now under heavy guard at Belgrade central prison following his arrest on Sunday, April 1, 2001. Government officials said that Milosevic will be charged with abuse of power and corruption that cost the state close to $100 million, and that Milosevic would face a maximum five-year prison term if convicted.
- 1984: Slobodan Milosevic enters politics as a protégé of Ivan Stambolic, the head of the League of Communists of Serbia. He becomes the head of the local Communist party organization in Belgrade.
- 1987: Riding on a wave of popularity, Milosevic ousts Stambolic as leader of the League of Communists of Serbia. He demands that the federal government restore full control of Vojvodina and Kosovo to Serbia.
- While the federal government tries to introduce free-market reforms to save the weak Yugoslav economy, Milosevic plays on people fears, defending the socialist tradition of state economic intervention.
- 1988: Milosevic replaces party leaderships in Kosovo and Vojvodina provinces with his own supporters.
- 1989: The Serbian assembly ousts Stambolic as the republic’s president, replacing him with Milosevic.
- 1990: Milosevic changes the Serbian constitution to curtail provinces’ autonomy. He rallies the Serbian people and resists a growing movement in favor of multiparty elections. Serbia’s continuing resistance to political and economic reform accelerates the breakup of the Yugoslav federation.
- Mulitparty elections bring noncommunist governments to power in Croatia and Slovenia. Milosevic transforms the League of Communists of Serbia into the Socialist Party of Serbia and is returned to office.
- 1991: While there is movement to transform Yugoslavia into a confederation, negotiations fail. Serbs in the federal government prevent a Croat candidate from assuming the collective presidency and Croatia and Slovenia secede from the union, citing discrimination.
- Milosevic orders federal troops and Serbian militias to take over regions of Croatia. This begins three years of civil war. Macedonia declares independence.
- 1992: The Muslims and Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina vote to secede. The United Nations pushes severe trade sanctions on Yugoslavia. Milosevic’s ”Greater Serbia” doctrine calls for the conquest of land in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the war spreads. Serb forces expel hundreds of thousands of Bosnian Moslems and Croats from their homes, kill thousands of civilians, and detain more in concentration camps.
- 1993: Milosevic begins to distance himself politically from the Bosnian Serbs.
- 1995: The Croatian army pushes the Serbs out of Croatia. As Serbia suffers under the UN trade embargo, Milosevic agrees to sign a peace treaty on behalf of the Bosnian Serbs, ending the civil war in Bosnia.
- 1998 : Milosevic launches a military campaign against the Kosovo Liberation Army, an ethnic Albanian guerrilla group seeking independence for the province. NATO threatens air strikes.
- 1999: After several tries at negotiation, NATO forces launch a massive aerial bombardment campaign against Yugoslavia. An international war-crimes tribunal indicts Milosevic for — crimes against humanity.
- After 10 weeks of the allied bombing campaign, Milosevic and the Serbian parliament sign an agreement to end the fighting.
- 2000: In October, Milosevic is ousted from power by popular uprising after he annuls election results that show he lost to democratic candidate Vojislav Kostunica.
- 2001: On April 1st, the ex-Yugoslav president was arrested at his villa in the early hours of Sunday morning.
