It was not pretty, but the job was done. Last weekend, Serb police arrested former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic after a 36-hour standoff at his villa. Mr. Milosevic now faces corruption charges, but officials in Belgrade are hinting that more serious charges could be added. Mr. Milosevic should be tried by a Yugoslav court, but the indictment should also include the crimes alleged by the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
The Hague tribunal has charged Mr. Milosevic with responsibility for the mass killings and expulsions of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo province in 1999 by Serb forces. International prosecutors are also preparing indictments concerning his role in the bloody conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia. At home, Mr. Milosevic faces allegations of abuse of power and corruption. Mr. Milosevic denied those allegations when he was arrested. In a written statement, he conceded for the first time that the monies he is accused of stealing were used to fund Serb separatists in Bosnia and Croatia.
That admission would seem to provide substance to the charges being prepared in The Hague. But Mr. Milosevic is gambling that his successor, President Vojislav Kostunica, will be reluctant to hand him over. Thus far, Mr. Kostunica has been hesitant to do that. The U.N. tribunal is perceived in Yugoslavia as being anti-Serb. Mr. Kostunica is a reformer, but he is also a nationalist who recognizes that he cannot afford to be seen as bowing to Western demands.