DECISION ON LIFTING STATE OF EMERGENCY IN SERBIA TODAY OR TOMORROW

BELGRADE, April 21 (Hina) - The Serbian government will mull over the decision to discontinue the state of emergency on Monday or Tuesday, Education Minister Gaso Knezevic was quoted by a local radio as saying. The state of emergency was introduced in the country upon the assassination of Premier Zoran Djindjic on 12 March. #L# Most members of the Serbian government are in favour of lifting the state of emergency, but Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic actually has the final say, Knezevic told the B92 Radio.. Some ministers have suggested that this state could be gradually lifted, but the Serbian Constitutional Court President, Slobodan Vucetic, has recently warned that there is no category of gradual or partial cancellation of the state of emergency, and his statement has been supported by the acting Serbian President, Natasa Micic, who makes the final decision on the prolongation or the lifting of the state of emergency, at the proposal of the Cabinet. Interior Minister Mihajlovic, whose stand will be of the crucial importance for the final decision, has been quoted by a local daily as saying that his ministry knows "who ordered, masterminded and carried out the assassination of the premier." "The assassination itself was carried out by some 12 persons with various tasks. It is important that we have the confession of assassins and other accomplices as well as material evidence. (...) For the Serbian Interior Ministry there is no unknown element regarding this crime," the minister told the Vecernje Novosti paper. The prime suspect in the premier's slaying -- Milorad Lukovic aka Legija, a former commander of the Unit for Special Operations (the so-called Red Berets) -- is still on the run. (hina) ms