YUGOSLAVIA WILL EXTRADITE CHIEF CULPRITS TO HAGUE TRIBUNAL

BELGRADE, June 25 (Hina) - Yugoslavia will "demand" of the war crimes tribunal in The Hague that it be requested to extradite only the chief war criminals, namely those who have been indicted to date, Justice Minister Momcilo Grubac told Glas daily on Monday. Everybody else indicted for war crimes against humanity could be tried before domestic courts "once they become independent," said the minister. Last Saturday, Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus said 16 people indicted by the Hague tribunal were on Serb territory. They will all be extradited "without exception," he said. Justice Minister Grubac told Glas the decree Yugoslavia adopted last weekend on cooperation with the war crimes tribunal envisaged legal remedies, the right to appeal and to defence. He declined to say if this procedure would be applied in the case of former President Slobodan Milosevic, namely if he would be allowed to lodge an appeal. Nebojsa Covic, Serbia's deputy prime minister and one of the leaders of the ruling DOS coalition, said on Sunday the procedure would be respected and that Milosevic might be extradited in ten days at least and 23 at the most. The deadline for appealing is eight days since the passing of the decision to extradite the indictee. Grubac said the cooperation decree was in keeping with the Yugoslav Constitution, which envisages compliance with international commitments. He did not, however, exclude the possibility of the Constitutional Court quashing it if it established the decree exceeded constitutional limits. Milosevic's defence today forwarded a request to the Constitutional Court to assess the decree's constitutionality. One of the attorneys, Toma Fila, said a constitutional appeal was also lodged. (hina) ha sb