Serbians quiz Milosevic over murder

Milosevic wants the interrogation to be public

A team of investigators from Belgrade has met the former Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial at the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

They wanted to question Mr Milosevic about his suspected involvement in events including the abduction and murder of another former Serbian president, Ivan Stambolic, and an assassination attempt against a Serb opposition leader, Vuk Draskovic.

Correspondents say the investigators are unlikely to have made much progress at their meeting with Mr Milosevic - he had no lawyers with him and had previously said he would answer questions only in public.

On Monday and Tuesday, Belgrade investigators questioned another Serb indicted at The Hague - the far-right leader Vojislav Seselj, in connection with a separate inquiry into the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in March.

Serbian officials allege a plot was organised against Mr Djindjic by crime bosses in conjunction with nationalists incensed at his policy of giving up war crimes suspects, and in particular Mr Milosevic, to The Hague.

A decision will be taken on whether to indict Mr Seselj and more than 40 others on the basis of this investigation.

Public interrogation demand

Court officials are not saying much about the meeting with Mr Milosevic, as it is not their investigation.

The Serbian team hopes to talk to him again on Thursday when he has legal representation.

Mr Milosevic has demanded that the interrogation be made public and a member of his Socialist Party said he would only agree to give a statement before TV cameras.

The former Yugoslav president has been on trial in The Hague since February 2002, on more than 60 charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, relating to the conflicts in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia.