SERBIAN PUBLIC SLAMS YU PRESIDENT'S CLAIMS ABOUT NON-EXTRADITION

BELGRADE, Dec 11 (Hina) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's statement in London's The Times that Yugoslavia will no longer extradite war crimes suspects to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague but prosecute them at national courts has been slammed in Serbia's public. #L# Serbian Premier Zoran Djindjic told Fonet news agency on Wednesday it would be "terribly irresponsible" if the statement was the product of a wish to win votes. "The international community is like climate. You cannot recognise or not recognise it, you have to adapt to it. There can be no emotions about the climate. The tribunal in The Hague is an adversity that has befallen us but which certainly has to do with us. Those ignoring this are calling on people to commit symbolic suicide," said Djindjic. He added "it's impossible to achieve national goals yet refuse cooperation with The Hague," and that statements to the contrary served merely to deceive the people. International law professor Vojin Dimitrijevic said he could understand Kostunica's statement "only if he were authorised to discontinue cooperation with the Hague tribunal". This cooperation is based on the law "and Kostunica is an advocate of law and legality," he added. Statements like Kostunica's are unnecessary because they could cause problems and undermine Yugoslavia's position, Dimitrijevic said. According to the Vojvodina Social Democrats League, Kostunica's statement is the "acme of political and statesmanly irresponsibility". In today's statement, the League ascribes Kostunica's claim to his failure at last weekend's Serbian presidential ballot. "A statement formulated like that constitutes an attempt to curry favour with the war-mongering forces in Serbia, the return of the (Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia) DSS and its leader to their original and genuine policy, one which is chauvinist, unitarianist-centralist and above all expansionist," the statement read. (hina) ha