Relaxed regime holds Milosevic

Milosevic: New cell offers chance of further education

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands -- Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic awaits trial on charges of atrocities committed during the Balkan wars in a detention centre filled with accused from all sides of the conflicts.

Thirty-eight Serbs, Croats and Muslims -- one a woman -- facing appearances before the International Criminal Tribunal are held in the United Nations controlled wing of the Dutch penitentiary.

Tribunal spokesperson Jim Landale told Reuters that during an acclimatisation period Milosevic will be interviewed to ensure he is not put with other accused with whom he might face difficulties.

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Scheveningen prison offers a relaxed regime for people accused of some of the world's worst atrocities.

A step up from the Serb jail that Milosevic has spent the last three months in, he will have his own five by three metre (17-by-10-foot) cell, with shower, toilet, wash basin and desk.

However the accused -- who face charges including crimes against humanity, rape and torture -- spend much of their time outside their cells after an initial period of isolation and assessment.

There is access to a fully equipped gym, courtyard, recreation room, the prison shop and a prayer room.

General Radislav Kristic, the alleged "Butcher of Srebrenica" is the unit's table tennis champion, Britain's Times newspaper reported.

Milosevic can cook his own Balkan dishes and put his imprisonment to constructive use with courses in arts, languages and sciences.

Or he could simply enjoy visits from wife Mira -- one of his strongest supporters -- in the private rooms equipped with beds and showers provided for conjugal visits.

Having been delivered by helicopter in the early hours of June 28, television pictures showed Milosevic being led by two guards across a yard to the detention centre.

The former president immediately underwent medical examinations with no reports of problems, the tribunal said.

But like all inmates however he will be kept under a "special observation regime," regularly checked by the U.N. guards in the four-storey wing run by Tim McFadden.

Following his detention in Belgrade on April 1 Milosevic was reported to be suffering from depression and high blood pressure having threatened from his luxury villa to shoot himself rather than submit to arrest.

With his unexpected transfer to international jurisdiction in a prison far from home amid former foes, the former Balkans' strongman now has plenty of time to ponder his fate.

The jail was once a Nazi detention centre for Dutch resistance fighters.

"It's good he's here," 80-year-old pensioner Jacques de Boer told Reuters, as he tidies his flowerbed in the shadow of the seaside prison. "I remember Adolf Hitler. This one's just like him."

"I'm glad he's here to face justice," a Dutch housewife sweeping outside her brick terraced house as seagulls swoop overhead told the news agency.

Guus, a near-by cafe owner was quoting as agreeing: "I'm glad for the people down there in Yugoslavia that they've finally got him here."

He added, amid brisk trade from waiting journalists: "And, of course, it's good for business."