YU MINISTER: BELGRADE WILL COOPERATE WITH ICTY REGARDLESS OF LAW

BELGRADE, June 8 (Hina) - Yugoslav Justice Minister Momcilo Grubac on Friday said his country would cooperate with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia) "regardless of whether a law on Yugoslavia's cooperation with the ICTY will be passed or not." Grubac was quoted by the Belgrade-based daily "Politika" as saying that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) should work together with the UN war crimes tribunal "if it does not want to be excluded from the international community." The minister added that cooperation also implied the hand-over of Yugoslav citizens to the Tribunal. He explained that a Yugoslav-ICTY cooperation bill had been prepared so that Belgrade could meet its commitments in line with precise legal procedure. He stressed, however, that "in case the act is not adopted, FRY's cooperation with the ICTY will be forced and direct." The Yugoslav minister spoke about several possibilities for direct cooperation with the Tribunal. One of them might be the direct enforcement of the Tribunal's statute "which is the extorted solution." In his opinion, the situation is currently such that the country will cooperate with the Tribunal without adequate legal regulations. He blamed this on "those who do not want to realise that it is better to do it the other way." Grubac obviously alluded to Montenegro's pro-Serbian Socialist People's Party (SNP), which refused to accept the said law in its segment on the extradition of Yugoslav nationals. This has recently caused a crisis in the work of federal authorities. Federal officials from both sides are threatening to resign. Two days ago, Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic announced that the FRY would cooperate with the Tribunal "regardless of the fact whether the law will be adopted or not." (hina) sb ms