Brussels, 22/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The EU Council regulation of 10 November 2000 on the freezing of assets of those close to former President Milosevic, as well as the ban on placing capital at the disposal of these people, was published in the Official Journal (L.287). The Council recalls that, on 9 October, it had approved a declaration calling for a lifting of all sanctions imposed on the Fry, with the exception of the provisions affecting Slobodan Milosevic and those persons associated with him, and that, therefore, the freeze on assets abroad should be restricted to these people. The regulation, that defines in a detailed manner the notion of "assets", states that, without prejudice to the applicable rules concerning confidentiality and professional secrecy, banks and other financial institutions shall provide immediately any information which would facilitate compliance with this sanction.
There follows a long list of names (some 650) of ministers and former ministers of the Fry Government (including defence and interior ministers), members of the judiciary and "Associates of Mr. Milosevic" (deputies, members of political parties, bank and company officials, journalists…), whereas on the list there are only three military personnel - Gregar Mihajlo, Col Officer, and the judges at 3 Army Court, Miladinovic Radenko and Milojevic Vukatin - and ten members of the police and security forces, including Djuric Branko and "the mercenary, SRS military wing" Vasiljkovic Dragan ("Captain Dragan"). The daily ABC claims that, initially, 65 high-ranking military personnel, including those responsible for repression in Kosovo, were on the list, but that the EU erased the majority of the names at the request of President Kostunica.