BELGRADE, Oct 3 (Hina) - Retired Yugoslav Army Vice Admiral Miodrag Jokic is willing to appear before the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague to respond to accusations of crimes committed in southern Croatia's Dubrovnik area in 1991,
the New Democracy (ND) party, of which Jokic is a member, said on Wednesday. "Jokic is ready to defend himself. He was sent to the Dubrovnik front-line after the death of the preceding JNA (ex-Yugoslavia's federal army) officer. As an officer, he could not choose whether to go or leave. Upon arriving there, he encountered Konavle burned, plunder...," ND vice president Miroslav Stefanovic told Belgrade's radio B-92. The authorities should treat Jokic and every other indictee equally, he added. The ND party is a member of the ruling coalition DOS and is led by Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic. "If the tribunal issues an order for Jokic's transfer to The Hague, he wil
BELGRADE, Oct 3 (Hina) - Retired Yugoslav Army Vice Admiral Miodrag
Jokic is willing to appear before the UN war crimes tribunal at The
Hague to respond to accusations of crimes committed in southern
Croatia's Dubrovnik area in 1991, the New Democracy (ND) party, of
which Jokic is a member, said on Wednesday.
"Jokic is ready to defend himself. He was sent to the Dubrovnik
front-line after the death of the preceding JNA (ex-Yugoslavia's
federal army) officer. As an officer, he could not choose whether to
go or leave. Upon arriving there, he encountered Konavle burned,
plunder...," ND vice president Miroslav Stefanovic told Belgrade's
radio B-92.
The authorities should treat Jokic and every other indictee
equally, he added. The ND party is a member of the ruling coalition
DOS and is led by Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic.
"If the tribunal issues an order for Jokic's transfer to The Hague,
he will be taken to The Hague," Stefanovic said.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) has accused Jokic, Gen. Pavle Strugar, Vice Admiral Milan
Zec, and Captain Vladimir Kovacevic of breaching the law and
customs of war, the killing and cruel treatment of civilians,
attacks on civilian buildings, the destruction of cultural and
historical monuments, and plunder in the Dubrovnik area.
Yugoslavia still has not adopted a law on cooperation with the ICTY,
which makes it unlikely that any of the four might be extradited to
The Hague, unless they surrender.
(hina) ha