SERBIAN PARTIES ON COOPERATION WITH ICTY

BELGRADE, Feb 6 (Hina) - President of the Serbian parliament's justice committee Dragan Hiber said on Tuesday that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) could not avoid the extradition of former President Slobodan Milosevic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Cooperation between the FRY and ICTY is the result of a UN Charter, passed by the UN Security Council, therefore every UN member country is obliged to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, Hiber told a Belgrade daily. He believes that the FRY has to establish cooperation with the ICTY as soon as possible because then "there will be less pressure", and in his opinion it is possible that the ICTY would accept a proposal in line with which trials against war crimes suspects would be held in Yugoslavia. During his visit to Japan, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said Milosevic should be tried in Yugoslavia because "a trial in The Hague could make Milosevic a hero and martyr". There is no clear standpoint on cooperation with the ICTY among members of the Yugoslav-Serbian ruling coalition (DOS). The majority of the coalition members think that Milosevic should be tried in the country, because "he did the greatest evil to the Serbian people". Some, however, advocated the direct cooperation with the ICTY and Milosevic extradition, while some believe the former President should be tried in the country first and then in The Hague. President of the Vojvodina (northern Yugoslav province) Assembly Nenad Canak advocated Milosevic's immediate extradition and wondered why the former President had not yet been arrested. The majority of members of the ruling coalition advocated cooperation with the ICTY, though showing restraint as regards the arrests of war crime suspects - particularly Milosevic, Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and "The Vukovar butchers". (hina) it