The Serbian Government announced after a cabinet meeting yesterday that the first legal steps towards the transfer of former president, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, to the UN tribunal in The Hague have been taken.
The Yugoslav Justice Minister, Mr Momcilo Grubac, has submitted an official request to the Belgrade regional court for the transfer of the former leader, the government said in a statement carried by the Tanjug news agency.
Mr Milosevic is wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes allegedly committed during the 19981999 crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The former president has been in jail since April 1st on accusations of corruption and abuse of power.
The announcement came a day after a decree adopted by the Yugoslav government went into force, allowing for the extradition of war crimes suspects such as Mr Milosevic.
Lawyers for Mr Milosevic earlier yesterday appealed against a government decree paving the way for his extradition to the UN war crimes court, insisting such a move would violate his constitutional rights.
Mr Veselin Cerovic, one of Mr Milosevic's lawyers, said that the defence team had filed a legal challenge to the constitutional validity of the decree.
The Yugoslav cabinet-approved decree, which went into effect on Sunday, allows for the extradition of Yugoslav citizens to the ICTY.
Mr Cerovic said the defence had appealed to the constitutional court to block all action under the decree pending a ruling.
"We demand orders based on the [UN war crimes tribunal] indictment not be executed before the decree is proclaimed valid," said Mr Cerovic.
However, reformers in Belgrade have argued that the UN-founded ICTY is not the tribunal of any foreign country, and must be recognised since Yugoslavia is a member of the UN. Mr Milosevic's lawyer, Mr Toma Fila, said he could "still see no legal grounds for his extradition."
The ICTY, as well as the US, have welcomed the decree, but insisted that Belgrade must hand over any war crimes suspects living in its territory to demonstrate its co-operation with the UN court.
However, in Washington, senior US officials said yesterday - before the Serbian Government's announcement - that the US is not yet convinced Belgrade has met its conditions to attend this week's key donors' conference for Yugoslavia. EU foreign ministers had already indicated that they would go ahead with the meeting.
The prospect of aid from the US and the EU, to be discussed at the meeting, had been a crucial lever in persuading the government to move towards extraditing Mr Milosevic.