Kidnappers of Slobodan Milosevic sentenced

An attempt committed by four Dutch fellows to arrive in Belgrade, kidnap President Slobodan Milosevic and personally deliver him to the Hague tribunal turned out a failure for them, to put it mildly.

De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper, publishes that in summer of 2000 the four friends dressed in field clothes, stocked up with armament and left for Belgrade in a new rented Citroen to kidnap President Milosevic. In the end, they were arrested themselves. Watchful Yugoslav frontier guards certainly searched the cool Dutch “tourists” dressed in uniform of special purpose troops. And, in the end, the four men were convoyed to Belgrade. In almost three months, the Holland Foreign Ministry helped the Dutchmen out of the Serbian imprisonment.

However, it was not a conclusion of the accident. The unlucky kidnappers of Slobodan Milosevic were billed for 12,000 euro in the homeland already. RIA Novosti reports, company Dix granting cars on lease did not appreciate a patriotic impulse of the four guys and demanded that the rent should be paid including all days spent in jail. The men rented an eight-seater Citroen, and the rent period exceeded 100 days. Dix does not recognize imprisonment in he Balkans a good excuse for non-payment of a 12,000 euro bill. The company’s actions have been also supported by the Haarlem court decision which allowed the Dix claim.

As for Slobodan Milosevic himself, it is reported he is now suffering from high blood pressure, to put it in a normal state, several days are required. Press-service of the Hague tribunal reports, the ex-president is now undergoing treatment in the jail hospital. In this connection sittings of the court may recommence next week only. Unfortunately, hearings have been postponed because of Milosevic’s poor health several times already.

Members of the Serbian Social Party led by Milosevic are trying to persuade the Hague tribunal to let the ex-president come to Yugoslavia for recovery, but the attempts are in vain. And the imprisonment is turning into a severe torture for the sick man. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte thinks that Milosevic should serve his sentence in the Hague, but Milosevic is so weak that he can not even sit, he will stay in bed in jail.

Sergey Yugov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/18/44359.html

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