Hague: Đorđević delays plea

The Hague, Belgrade, Jun 20 (Source: B92) - Former Serbian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) General Vlastimir Đorđević appeared before the Hague Tribunal Tuesday. When Judge Fred Harthoff asked Đorđević to tell the court his address at the time of the arrest, he answered, “Belgrade, 39 Beogradski Bataljoni St.” “Considering that I do not yet have the issue of my permanent attorney solved, I have decided to delay entering my plea for 30 days,” Đorđević said. Đorđević told the judge briefly that he had received a copy of the indictment, that he had his rights read to him, that he felt well and was examined by the court medical staff upon arrival to the detention unit.

General Đorđević appeared in the courtroom wearing a dark suit and pink shirt and tie, with hair considerably longer than in the last photographs of him taken before the arrest, and sporting a tan. Đorđević is facing five counts of indictment which include persecution, murder, forcible transfer and deportation of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the first half of 1999. At that time, he was a close Milošević aide, deputy minister of the interior and chief of the MUP public security department. Former Serbian President Milan Milutinović, and co-defendants Nikola Šainović, Dragoljub Ojdanić, Nebojša Pavković, Vladimir Lazarević and Sreten Lukić face the same indictment in an ongoing trial at the Hague. Meanwhile, media in Belgrade Tuesday continue to speculate about the circumstances of Đorđević's arrest.

Daily Blic writes that his long-time lover, an officer with the Serbian Customs Depratment, told the authorities about his whereabouts. According to the daily, the woman, arrested last week for having forged documents necessary for import of vehicles, offered information about Đorđević to the police task force for fighting organized crime (UBPOK) as part of a plea bargain. The inspectors in charge were allegedly suspicious, but the woman claimed that she was in contact with Đorđević, whom she referred to by his nickname of Rođa.

The inspectors then contacted the Security Information Agency (BIA) and the Internal Affairs Ministry’s sector for Hague fugitives. In the presence of BIA officials, she then called Đorđević on his mobile phone while he was located in Budva, Montenegro, according to Blic. Đorđević was arrested in Budva Sunday and extradited to the Hague the same day.

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