Officials of the District Court in Kragujevac, Serbia, said on 18 September that they recently ordered the arrest of Montenegrin opposition newspaper editor Dusko Jovanovic because he failed to answer a summons in conjunction with an embezzlement case stemming from the sale of steel worth $434,000.

In Podgorica, opposition leaders said they consider the arrest politically motivated.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic filed slander charges against Jovanovic and his daily "Dan" because of a recent article charging that Djukanovic is blocking investigations into a well-publicized human-trafficking case.

Jovanovic was once previously convicted of slandering Djukanovic.

(RFE/RL 26.ix.03)