War crimes suspect shoots himself

Stojiljkovic: A former Serbian interior minister.

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Former Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic, wanted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, has shot himself in the head outside the Yugoslav parliament.

The shooting came hours after the Yugoslav parliament adopted a law that allows war crimes suspects to be arrested and extradited to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal.

Hospital officials told The Associated Press that Stojiljkovic, who was in charge of the police during the reign of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, was undergoing medical treatment.

Alexander Vucic, a member of the Serbian parliament for the Radical party, read to reporters a statement he said had been hand-written by Stojiljkovic in which he accused Serb and Yugoslav officials of betraying Yugoslavia.

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"For my death I hold responsible and directly accuse (Serbian Prime Minister) Zoran Djinjdic, (Yugoslav President) Vojislav Kostunica. Patriotic citizens of this country will know how to avenge me," the note said.

Parliament passed the extradition legislation under pressure from the United States, which froze financial aid to Yugoslavia at the start of the month and has demanded the handover of suspects as the price for allowing aid to flow again.

A police officer at the scene in front of the parliament said Stojiljkovic walked out of the parliament building shortly after 7 p.m. local time, appeared to hesitate a few minutes and then calmly pulled out a pistol and shot himself.

"I was informed that Stojiljkovic came to the parliament's main entrance, talked to one of the (Socialist Party) deputies for a while, pulled out his gun and shot himself in his head," Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic told Reuters.

Stojiljkovic was interior minister from April 1997 until October 2000. His ministry was in charge of the police units widely accused of atrocities in Kosovo.

Observers say he has kept a generally low profile since leaving office but remains a member of the federal parliament.

He has defended himself as a "man of honour." He had also been named in local media reports as a likely candidate for handover to The Hague in the near future.