Word: kostunica
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...Yugoslav federal government had been uneasy about sending Milosevic for trial in a court considered by President Vojislav Kostunica to be biased against Serbs. Authorities appeared set to delay the process by allowing a Federal appeals court - whose judges had been Milosevic appointees, and had voted to annul last year's election result precipitating the insurrection that drove him from office - to challenge the validity of last weekend's government decree facilitating the strongman's extradition. But when the Federal court said no, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic - Kostunica's arch-rival and an enthusiastic advocate of a Hague trial...
...downtown Belgrade, loudly protesting and beating up foreign journalists - but contained: There were never more than about 2,000 people gathered in Central Square in support of Milosevic, in contrast to the hundreds of thousands that had gathered there in the past to demand his ouster. And although President Kostunica had warned that he would resign from his ruling coalition if Yugoslavian law was not observed in the case, he gave no indication that he would allow the issue to force fresh elections...
...Kostunica's prevarication had been partly based on his hope of winning over residual Milosevic supporters for his eventual election showdown with Djindjic. But by the time a little black van drove inconspicuously away from the Central Prison bearing the former strongman to face his accusers, the number of Serbs opposed to that outcome was surprisingly small. Their decision to extradite may have been driven by an overriding concern with their country's desperate financial plight, but Belgrade's post-Milosevic leadership has done a remarkable job over the past year in swaying Serbian public opinion solidly behind his extradition...
...Kostunica's views on this issue have evolved since his election. During his election campaign last year and immediately afterwards, his line was that cooperation with the Hague Tribunal was very low on his priority list, and also that in principle he was against turning anybody over for trial in the Hague. But he has since softened his stance, and is now quite clearly in favor of cooperation with the Tribunal - one of his reasons being that Yugoslavia desperately needs foreign aid and investment, and most importantly, rescheduling of its debt. And the U.S. government had made clear that...
...also important to remember that Kostunica was under pressure from most of the members of his own ruling coalition, who favored cooperation with the Tribunal. In opposing it, Kostunica was in the minority even within his own government. So now that the first step has been taken, Milosevic won't be with us for much longer...