Serbian Socialists name acting leader

Milosevic remains in prison facing corruption charges

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic has asked his Serbian Socialist Party (SPS) to name an acting leader while he remains in prison, the party said.

Milosevic, ousted in a popular uprising six months ago, is being held in Belgrade's central prison on corruption charges.

He is also wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal on a 1999 indictment for atrocities in Kosovo. He has denied all accusations against him.

"At the proposal of its leader Slobodan Milosevic, the main board of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) appointed Zivadin Jovanovic as the first man of the party," a party statement carried by Beta news agency said.

It said Jovanovic, a former foreign minister, "would lead the party in the absence of Milosevic, who is in detention on suspicion of abuse of his professional position."

A Belgrade court on Tuesday rejected a motion for his release from custody pending further investigation.

Independent radio B-92 reported on Friday night that Milosevic had ordered a change in the SPS leadership in a letter sent from his Belgrade cell.

The letter ordered the dismissal of Zoran Andjelkovic as SPS secretary-general and his replacement by Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, B-92 said.

However, the SPS statement did not mention the reported removal of Andjelkovic, a close protege of Milosevic.

B-92 said Milosevic's wife Mirjana Markovic took the letter with her after a visit to her husband on Friday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
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Milosevic Indictment
International war crime tribunal

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