BELGRADE, Oct 3 (Hina) - One of the leaders of Serbia's ruling DOS coalition, Momcilo Perisic, has stated he is not "afraid in the least" of the arrest warrant issued after him by Interpol as he was sentenced in absentia by a Croatian
court to 20 years in prison for war crimes in Zadar in 1991. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia last week joined Interpol after 10 years of absence from the international police organisation. General Perisic, who commanded a former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) artillery centre in Zadar and was later commander of the Herzegovina Corps, and eventually, until 1998, the Yugoslav Army Chief-of-Staff, said at Wednesday's news conference in Belgrade he had acted "in line with the Geneva conventions" and defended "the lives, honour and dignity of my men" in Croatia. Commenting on a reporter's remark that Croatia was not ready to establish full diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia
BELGRADE, Oct 3 (Hina) - One of the leaders of Serbia's ruling DOS
coalition, Momcilo Perisic, has stated he is not "afraid in the
least" of the arrest warrant issued after him by Interpol as he was
sentenced in absentia by a Croatian court to 20 years in prison for
war crimes in Zadar in 1991.
The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia last week joined Interpol after
10 years of absence from the international police organisation.
General Perisic, who commanded a former Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) artillery centre in Zadar and was later commander of the
Herzegovina Corps, and eventually, until 1998, the Yugoslav Army
Chief-of-Staff, said at Wednesday's news conference in Belgrade he
had acted "in line with the Geneva conventions" and defended "the
lives, honour and dignity of my men" in Croatia.
Commenting on a reporter's remark that Croatia was not ready to
establish full diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia as long as he
was Serbia's vice-premier, Perisic, speaking in his capacity as
president of the Movement for Democratic Serbia (PDS), one of the
ruling coalition parties, said "Serbia is a sovereign country which
does not tolerate the imposing of personnel solutions."
Speaking about the indictments the Hague-based war crimes tribunal
issued against four high-ranking JNA and Yugoslav Army (VJ)
officers for war crimes committed in Dubrovnik, Perisic said
briefly one had to cooperate with the Tribunal. He reminded,
however, that Yugoslavia still did not have a law on cooperation
with the Hague tribunal, adding he believed the state would find "a
reasonable solution" in the case of the four JNA officers.
Despite repeated requests by the Hague tribunal, Yugoslavia has
been refusing for years to hand over three JNA officers - Veselin
Sljivancanin, Mile Mrksic and Miroslav Radic - indicted for crimes
committed in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar. Problems with
the international community have been aggravated by the latest,
Dubrovnik indictment.
Apart from Perisic, Interpol issued arrests warrants some time ago
for the Vukovar indictees and it is expected to act the same way
regarding the Dubrovnik indictment.
Since Yugoslavia's admission to the U.N. and Interpol, Belgrade
will find it hard to dodge arrest warrants, the more so as pressure
as well as the number of indictees is increasing.
Late in August this year, active VJ Lieutenant Colonel Veselin
Sljivancanin, escorted by his bodyguards, appeared at the
presentation of a book about his life in a town in the northern
Yugoslav province of Vojvodina, provoking ICTY officials into
renewing the request for his arrest.
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic then said Sljivancanin was
"under the jurisdiction of the Yugoslav President and the Yugoslav
Army" and President Kostunica responded by labelling Djindjic's
statement as 'inappropriate'. He also said Yugoslavia "will not
hand over anyone to the ICTY until a law on cooperation with the
tribunal is adopted."
Apart from the request to arrest the seven JNA and VJ officers
accused of crimes in Vukovar and Dubrovnik, Belgrade also faces a
request for the arrest of Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and
Ratko Mladic, should they happen to find themselves on Yugoslav
territory.
(hina) rml