YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT REFUSES TO RECEIVE ICTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR

BELGRADE, Jan 15 (Hina) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica will not be receiving the chief prosecutor of the international war crimes tribunal, Carla del Ponte, who is scheduled to visit Belgrade on January 23. Vice-president of Kostunica's party, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, Aleksandar Popovic, told a news conference in Belgrade Kostunica will not be meeting del Ponte, describing the tribunal as "political" and the prosecution "politically motivated". The Yugoslav President receives heads of state and premiers, while Carla del Ponte "is not in any of these offices", Popovic said, adding the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) "is not a relevant international institution". Kostunica's refusing to receive del Ponte only confirms the voiced stance by the Yugoslav President's Office that he held the tribunal a "political court" and that Yugoslavia was not obliged to cooperate with the ICTY on the basis of the Dayton Agreement, as "such a document did not go through parliamentary procedure". An official letter issued by Kostunica's office Saturday shows an evasion of responsibility towards the implementation of a section of the Dayton Agreement which relates to cooperation with the tribunal. The letter recalls the Dayton Agreement had been signed by the then Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, not the prime minister of Yugoslavia who is authorised to sign international agreements. (hina) lml sb