By
The Associated Press
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - Former President Slobodan Milosevic has been placed under 24-hour police surveillance amid demands here and abroad that he be arrested, Serbia's police chief said yesterday.
Serb Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic did not say whether Milosevic - who lives in a Belgrade villa guarded by both the military and police - will be arrested or extradited to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, which has charged him with war crimes in Kosovo.
Asked by reporters whether Milosevic is under a 24-hour police surveillance, Mihajlovic said: "Let's say it happened."
Mihajlovic, who assumed the command of the Serb Interior Ministry only a week ago, did not give details. But police sources, who demanded anonymity, said the security guards, formerly loyal to Milosevic, now regularly report to the new pro-democracy government on the former leader's whereabouts amid fears that he may flee the country or go into hiding.
New Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who succeeded Milosevic after brief popular riots last October, said Wednesday during his visit to Sweden that Milosevic lives in self-imposed isolation.
"He's in the sort of arrest that he has imposed on himself - that would be the proper description as far as I know," Kostunica said.
Mihajlovic said that Milosevic's stay at a government villa is the result of an "arrangement" between Milosevic and Kostunica. Milosevic's home is being renovated.
Mihajlovic said police are guarding Milosevic's residence "because they need to know what Milosevic is doing and where he is going." He said that security details need to protect Milosevic from "self-styled" bounty hunters who may be tempted to collect a $5 million fee promised by the U.S. government for those who lead to the arrest of Milosevic and others.
Milosevic's position could be growing more precarious, despite resistance by Kostunica and some others in the pro-democracy leadership to allow those indicted for war crimes to be extradited to the U.N. court.
There are growing calls in the country that Milosevic be arrested and put on trial in Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic. During his 13-year tenure, the country grew impoverished, corrupt, internationally isolated and dangerous because of crime.
