ZAGREB, April 1 (Hina) - Croatia hopes that the apprehension of a former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, is the first step on his 'trip' to The Hague where he should answer for war crimes before the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Croatia's Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said on Sunday. "We hope that today's action of the Yugoslav judiciary and police is only the initial and badly needed stage in the entire project of imposing sanctions against the most responsible for the huge suffering of people and devastation of goods, caused and committed in the name of the idea of a greater Serbia during the last ten years," Picula said commenting on Milosevic's arrest. Picula noted that it "does not have to mean that he is finally brought before justice." "Milosevic cannot be charged only with graft and electoral fraud The former Yugoslav and Serbian preside
ZAGREB, April 1 (Hina) - Croatia hopes that the apprehension of a
former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, is the first step on
his 'trip' to The Hague where he should answer for war crimes before
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY), Croatia's Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said on Sunday.
"We hope that today's action of the Yugoslav judiciary and police is
only the initial and badly needed stage in the entire project of
imposing sanctions against the most responsible for the huge
suffering of people and devastation of goods, caused and committed
in the name of the idea of a greater Serbia during the last ten
years," Picula said commenting on Milosevic's arrest.
Picula noted that it "does not have to mean that he is finally
brought before justice."
"Milosevic cannot be charged only with graft and electoral fraud
The former Yugoslav and Serbian president, and the incumbent
president of the Socialist Party of Serbia, has already been
indicted of war crimes for which he must answer before the Hague
Tribunal," Picula stressed.
There are another war crimes suspect, besides Milosevic, in Serbia
who must answer for war crimes they committed in Croatia such as
Sljivancanin, Mrksic and Radic (the butchers of Vukovar), and
unfortunately one of war criminals, against whom the Croatian
judiciary has proclaimed a final verdict, is filling the high-
ranking political post in the incumbent Serbian government, Picula
added.
This refers to General Momcilo Perisic, whom Croatia tried in
absentia and sentenced to 20 years in prison for shelling civilian
targets in the coastal town of Zadar during the aggression against
Croatia. The coalition DOS (the united opposition democratic
parties in Serbia), which won the last Serbian elections, appointed
him to be one of deputy premiers of the Serbian government.
The further normalisation of ties between the two countries will
depend on Belgrade's treatment of those facts, Picula said.
(hina) ms