Former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, a close ally of late Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, went on trial in The Hague yesterday with five others also accused of war crimes in Kosovo in 1999.

Milutinovic, 63, and his co-accused are charged with the persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the forcible deportation of about 800,000 civilians and the murder of hundreds of civilians by Serb forces.?The evidence in this case will show that these six accused ... were co-participants with Slobodan Milosevic and other Serbian political, military and police officials in a joint criminal enterprise,? prosecutor Thomas Hannis said in court.

The goal was to alter the ethnic balance in Kosovo, which was largely populated by Kosovo-Albanians, to perpetuate Serb control, he added. Milutinovic succeeded Milosevic as president of Serbia in 1997. Milosevic died of a heart attack in a UN cell in The Hague on March 11, just months before a verdict was expected in his marathon war crimes trial.

Milutinovic and co-accused former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, former army chief and defense minister Dragoljub Ojdanic and army commander Vladimir Lazarevic returned from provisional release to The Hague last week.The four are indicted with army commander Nebojsa Pavkovic and security chief Sreten Lukic, as well as former chief of public security Vlastimir Dordevic, who is still at large.

Prosecutors allege Milutinovic had at least formal control over the Serb forces who killed hundreds of ethnic Albanians and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Milutinovic has pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity including murder, deportation and persecution, and one charge of war crimes, arguing he had little real power as Serbian president.