Belgrade  - Serbia is to pay 1 million dollars to relieve the pressure for extradition of a Serbian athlete who skipped bail in the United States after a near-fatal beating of a fellow student, local reports said Friday.

The daily Politika quoted "reliable sources" from Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic's cabinet saying that Serbia would pay a 900,000- dollar-compensation claim and 100,000 for bail to keep the fugitive, Miladin Kovacevic, at home.

Kovacevic, a 21-year-old former basketball player at Binghamton University in New York, is accused of assaulting fellow student Bryan Steinhauer in a bar brawl in May. He fled home on an emergency passport, issued after his family posted bail.

Officials refused to confirm whether Serbia would pay damages and fines as a settlement in Kovacevic's name. The decision was reportedly marked as "confidential."

Justice Minister Snezana Malovic only said the country "will do everything possible to secure a trial at home" for Kovacevic.

Kovacevic was arrested in October, along with Slobodan Nenadovic, the consular official who issued him the replacement travel documents, when charges were brought against them at a local court.

Serbia has laws banning the extradition of its citizens, but the case strained its relations with the United States because of the apparent assistance Kovacevic, then already a fugitive from justice, received from Serbian diplomats.

While Kovacevic has the sympathy of many in Serbia - amid its muddled relations with the West - the payment in his name, at the time when the financial crisis is laying waste to the already fragile local economy, is likely to be negatively received by the public. (dpa)