KOSTUNICA REITERATES HE HAD NO INFORMATION ON MILOSEVIC'S EXTRADITION

BELGRADE, June 30 (Hina) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica on Saturday reiterated his statement he had not been informed of the extradition of ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on time. This only intensified relations within the ruling Yugoslav-Serbian coalition DOS and the county entered a crisis which started with different opinions in the Federal government on the regulation on cooperation with the ICTY, and the crisis sharpened on Friday after Yugoslav Prime Minister Zoran Zizic resigned. Kostunica claims he received first official information on the government's decision on Milosevic's extradition at exactly 19.15 hours, even though the government's session was held at 16.00 hours, adding the official report arrived in his office at 20.30 hours, Thursday, June 28. The Yugoslav President dismissed yesterday's claim of certain DOS heads who said Kostunica voted pro Milosevic's extradition at all DOS meetings. I never said I was pro Milosevic's extradition or any other indictee before the ICTY, I said this painful cooperation has real grounds, to protect the rights and dignity of the country and individuals, Kostunica said in a statement. Present at Thursday's government session, which ended at 17.00, was Health Minister Obren Joksimovic of Kostunica's Democratic Serbian Party (DSS), who was the only one to vote against the decision on extradition. Kostunica's party on Friday decided to leave the DOS parliamentary bench, but decided not to withdraw its members from state official duties in Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Kostunica recently assessed that the break-up of the DOS was inevitable, and his party and Kostunica personally were mentioning early elections at all levels on several occasions. (hina) it