Angry supporters take to streets over 'persecution'

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Leading article: It is not only Mr Milosevic who must confront the truth about Serbia's crimes

Resentment was evident on the streets of Belgrade yesterday. The people felt they had been misjudged, singled out for harsh treatment by the world.

"It leaves a bad taste in my mouth,'' said Jelena Kostic, shaking her head in disbelief in the city centre's Republic Square. "We're the only country who gave our leader up to the tribunal.''

Almost nobody had a good word to say on the sudden extradition of Slobodan Milosevic, the man whose shadow fell so heavily over the Balkans for a decade, to face the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

"There was a woman from The Hague on television last night saying the court is not really only for Serbs,'' said Ms Kostic. "But I can't tell what to think after the way the media deceived us for all these years.''

Despite the overthrow of Mr Milosevic in last October's revolution, many here still find it hard to accept the idea of handing over the deposed president to a tribunal that has long been vilified in the Serbian media as politically biased and anti-Serb. That Mr Milosevic is the first head of state to be handed over confirms their belief that the tribunal is set up especially to persecute Serbs.

For many, rumours that less famous indictees – wanted for war crimes in Croatia – might be extradited was even more galling than the hand-over of Mr Milosevic.

Aleksandar Pajic said: "The Serb leaders from Bosnia and the [Croatian region of] Krajina are heroes. It will be very bad if they are sent to The Hague." Others rejoiced over the fate of Mr Milosevic, saying it was high time the former president stood trial at the UN court.

One Serb said: "The new authorities left it late, but better late than never. I now expect Serbia to break away from Montenegro and ask for its own, better future in the European family of nations."

Vojislav, a 60-year-old economist, said: "Milosevic and his thugs, who are still around, should have been handed over to The Hague on 6 October, a day after he was ousted."

At the expensive Belgrade home of General Ratko Mladic all was quiet yesterday but for a nervous plainclothes guard. General Mladic is indicted for genocide in Bosnia where he presided over the systematic murder of several thousand unarmed Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. Mr Pajic said: "If they try to arrest Mladic I am prepared to go and help defend him myself.''

Dusan Cvijetinovic said: "My relatives were in Bosnia. If it weren't for Mladic, the Serbs in Bosnia would have been slaughtered.'' Beneath his feet someone had scrawled on the pavement: "Sloba the Hero".

But it is not only Mr Milosevic's dwindling band of die-hard supporters who opposed his extradition. Mr Cvijetinovic said: "I think the best thing Milosevic could have done is to kill himself.'' Yet he, too, is angry at the hand-over.

Mr Milosevic's sudden departure has also created turmoil in the corridors of power. The federal government, which presides over Serbia and Montenegro, collapsed after the Yugoslav Prime Minister and his Montenegrin allies resigned in protest at the extradition. New elections may be needed.

The Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, who defeated Mr Milosevic in the elections last year, is known to have opposed the hand-over. He described it as illegal. At the centre of the dispute lies the real power in the new Yugoslavia: Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian Prime Minister who rose to power in the shadows behind Mr Kostunica. When the Montenegrins refused to back a law enabling the extradition, Mr Djindjic simply issued a decree. When the Constitutional Court delayed the extradition order to consider its legality Mr Djindjic ignored it and sent the former president packing anyway. That has incensed many Serbs.

"I'm disgusted by Djindjic,'' one woman said. "He really looks like a traitor.''

Zarko Simpraga said: "This is a quisling government. When Djindjic ignored what the courts had decided it proves we do not have a state.''

Many here are dismayed not so much by Mr Milosevic's extradition, as by how it was done. They say they took to the streets in last October's revolution for the rule of law. To see the courts ignored leads them to believe they have been robbed of what they overthrew Mr Milosevic to gain.

A 90-minute film of a secret mass-grave site just outside Belgrade containing Albanians murdered by Serb forces in Kosovo was shown on television on Thursday night. Viewers were shown half-burnt skulls being dug out of the ground in gory detail. Mr Milosevic personally ordered the bodies of murdered Albanians to be hidden so they could not be used as evidence against him.

"It's a bit too obvious that they found those bodies when they wanted to extradite him, isn't it?'' said Ms Kostic yesterday. "And how did they know all the bodies were Albanians before they dug them up?''