Associated Press A Yugoslav parliament official counts a vote for adoption of an extradition law yesterday. Parliament adopted the landmark bill that removes legal obstacles for the arrest and extradition of top associates of former President Slobodan Milosevic and other suspects to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - The Yugoslav Parliament passed a law yesterday that removes legal obstacles for the arrest and extradition of top associates of former President Slobodan Milosevic and other war crimes suspects to the U.N. tribunal.

Hours later, one of the suspects, former Serbian interior minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic, shot himself in the head in front of the downtown federal parliament building. Stojiljkovic, who headed the police during Milosevic's reign, was undergoing medical treatment in a hospital, officials said.

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said passage of the law should satisfy the tribunal's demands for extradition of indicted suspects and open the way for the renewal of U.S. financial aid, which is on hold until Secretary of State Colin Powell certifies that Yugoslavia is cooperating with the Netherlands-based court.

The State Department said yesterday that Powell had not yet made a decision on that issue. A spokesman for the U.N. court criticized the narrow scope of the law, which applies only to suspects who have already been indicted; he emphasized that that Yugoslavia's cooperation should be "complete and unconditional."

"We are more interested in concrete actions, and that means the apprehension and transfer of individuals who have been at large for unacceptable periods of time," tribunal spokesman Jim Landale said in The Hague. "We will wait and see."

The extradition law - which applies to about 20 suspects hiding in Yugoslavia - was approved by an 80-39 vote in the 138-seat lower parliament chamber, with the other deputies absent. The 40-seat upper house approved the law Wednesday, and it will take effect upon publication in the official gazette, expected within days.

Before the vote, Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic, who is in charge of police, predicted quick action.

"It can be expected that all the suspects will be handed over to The Hague tribunal by May 1," Zivkovic said.

To satisfy a demand by lawmakers from Montenegro, the smaller of Yugoslavia's two republics, who are former allies of Milosevic, the law applies only to suspects already indicted by the U.N. tribunal. Anyone indicted later would be tried by Yugoslav courts, it says.