A Yugoslav court says it has delivered the UN tribunal's indictment for war crimes to former leader Mr Slobodan Milosevic, who is in custody in a Belgrade jail.
The move by Belgrade's district court came about a week after chief UN war crimes prosecutor Ms Carla del Ponte demanded Yugoslavia reveal whether its authorities, as required, had delivered the indictment to Mr Milosevic.
The court said in a statement it received the indictment on April 26th from the Yugoslav justice ministry and said the reason for handing over the document to Mr Milosevic was for him to learn about its content.
Mr Milosevic (59), the key figure in a decade of Balkan conflict, was arrested on April 1st on suspicion of abuse of office after a 36-hour armed standoff at his villa.
The UN war crimes court based in The Hague indicted him in May 1999 for alleged atrocities committed by Yugoslav troops under his command against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.