Yugoslavia's Constitutional Court has temporarily suspended the government extradition decree allowing Slobodan Milosevic's handover to the UN war crimes court.
The temporary halt is meant to give the judges time to consider the appeal by Milosevic's lawyers to consider whether the decree was constitutional.
Milosevic's team want to slow efforts to extradite the former president, indicted for atrocities committed in Kosovo.
A member of the defence team who requested anonymity says that Milosevic's lawyers will also demand the dismissal of a Supreme Court judge and the public prosecutor in Serbia.
Some senior leaders, like Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, say Milosevic will be delivered to the UN tribunal no matter how courts rule. Still, Milosevic's lawyers are hoping the court could delay the matter.
"We have high hopes for a Constitutional Court ruling that the decree is illegal," Milosevic's lawyer Veselin Cerovic said.
Milosevic has been in prison since April 1 while allegations of abuse of power and corruption are investigated. If extradited, he would be the first former head of state to face a war crimes trial in front of the UN tribunal, established in 1992.
Meanwhile, the head of Yugoslavia's Constitutional Court resigned today just before the court was to begin discussing moves to hand over Milosevic.
"I think it is for the best that I do not participate in the work [of the court] and I will not vote [on the issue before the court]," court president Mr Milutin Srdic said.
PA