BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - In a major setback, opposition forces said yesterday that Serbia's highest court has turned aside their legal challenge to President Slobodan Milosevic and decided to let stand alleged election fraud.
Opposition leaders vowed to widen their fight to unseat Milosevic following the ruling, which has not been announced officially by Serbia's Supreme Court. The Belgrade Electoral Commission, which had filed a similar challenge to Milosevic's annulment of municipal elections won by the opposition, announced late yesterday that its appeal had also been rejected.
Politicians and students staging their 21st day of street demonstrations said they were not surprised that the court had sided with Milosevic, and they pronounced themselves more determined than ever to see an end to his authoritarian regime.
"We want the protests to spread to as many cities in Serbia as possible,'' said Zoran Djindjic, president of the opposition Democratic Party. "This is an enormous investment in the future. Never before has there been a single unified protest in 20 towns in Serbia; never before have we attracted so much international attention.''
Approximately 42 protesters have been arrested, according to opposition lawyers. Several of the arrested were held incommunicado, the lawyers said.
Yesterday, the effigy sat slumped in the corner of the headquarters of the Zajedno (Together) opposition coalition as thousands of demonstrators rallied outside.
Milosevic and his proxies have told Western officials that they will not use force to break up the demonstrations. But Milosevic has used tactics both subtle and overt to intimidate and undermine the opposition.
State-run television, which routinely broadcasts interviews of residents complaining about how the protests disrupt traffic, resumed its tough talk last night, accusing Zajedno leaders of subversive attempts to destabilize the nation and mislead the people.
"All of this is obviously a big farce intended for the foreign media,'' state television said. "They have finally shown their hand and have proven that their aim is to destabilize Serbia (and) to compromise it before the world.''
Milosevic is also seeking scapegoats in an effort to defuse the most sustained challenge to his authority he has ever faced. He has fired officials in his party whose titles seem important but who really have little power, and he has tried to use the courts for cover.
Although the courts are widely considered to be under Milosevic's control, some diplomats and Serbian analysts had thought the appeals procedure would provide Milosevic with a face-saving way out of the crisis.
In recent days, five Supreme Court justices and a number of lower court judges have voiced support for the opposition, giving rise to speculation that Milosevic's annulment of the Nov. 17 elections might be overturned.
Both Zajedno and the Belgrade Electoral Commission filed appeals; both have now apparently been rejected.
"This doesn't make sense unless he has another legal option (in mind) or he has decided to hunker down and try to wait it out and not give an inch,'' said a Western diplomat. "This demonstrates his desire to not compromise and to play it tough. It demonstrates he is more interested in power than the rule of law.''
People who have met with Milosevic in recent days said he seems surrealistically cavalier about events in his country. A meeting on Saturday with an American media-rights advocate took place only after he delayed plans to go duck-hunting.
Kati Marton, the American who chairs the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said Milosevic tore up a declaration she presented him on respecting press freedoms. She then scribbled another, terse statement, which he signed.
Marton, who is married to Richard Holbrooke, the former U.S. peace envoy to the Balkans, came to Serbia to show support for independent media shut down by Milosevic. She said she told Milosevic that he should try to salvage a reputation that had improved dramatically with the signing of the Bosnian peace accord a year ago but that was now "as bad as could be.''
Radomir Lazarevic, president of the Belgrade Electoral Commission, told a late-night news conference yesterday that with the appeals rejected, he will pursue other legal remedies, including a new appeal to the Yugoslav, or federal, judiciary.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is made up of dominant Serbia and smaller Montenegro. Almost all power rests at the Serbian level, but courts at the federal level can review other courts' decisions.
AP PHOTO
Students carrying signs and flags march through Belgrade while protesting Saturday against the ruling presidential regime of Slobodan Milosevic. More than 80,000 people protested for the 19th consecutive day against the government's policies.