BELGRADE, Oct 4 (Hina) - At Thursday's press conference, Serbia's officials were not in the mood to talk about the Hague tribunal's latest indictments against four officers of ex-Yugoslavia's federal army (JNA) for war crimes in
southern Croatia's Dubrovnik area. Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, Justice Minister Vladan Batic, and Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic told Hina federal Yugoslav institutions and the Yugoslav Army were competent for the indictments. Deputy PM Zarko Korac regretted that Yugoslavia still had not adopted a law regulating its relations with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY). He emphasised the matter was within the competence of the federal government but that it was not "proceeding as fast as it should." Korac maintains Yugoslavia's cooperation with the ICTY includes cases like the three JNA officers accused of war crimes in eastern Croatia's Vukovar, which
BELGRADE, Oct 4 (Hina) - At Thursday's press conference, Serbia's
officials were not in the mood to talk about the Hague tribunal's
latest indictments against four officers of ex-Yugoslavia's
federal army (JNA) for war crimes in southern Croatia's Dubrovnik
area.
Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, Justice Minister Vladan Batic, and
Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic told Hina federal Yugoslav
institutions and the Yugoslav Army were competent for the
indictments.
Deputy PM Zarko Korac regretted that Yugoslavia still had not
adopted a law regulating its relations with the International
Criminal Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY). He emphasised the matter was
within the competence of the federal government but that it was not
"proceeding as fast as it should."
Korac maintains Yugoslavia's cooperation with the ICTY includes
cases like the three JNA officers accused of war crimes in eastern
Croatia's Vukovar, which he described as "one of the best
documented crimes from past wars." For Yugoslavia and Serbia it
would be a "huge disgrace if people pretended accountability was
not very real," he said.
Justice Minister Batic told Belgrade's news agency Beta there were
"no pressures" on the government in the wake of the ICTY indictments
for the Dubrovnik crimes.
"I hope the federal government will adopt that law (on cooperation
with the ICTY) one day, or say 'the law is definitely unnecessary,
act in line with the ICTY Statute', in which case we (Serbia's
government) will (do so)," Batic said alluding to the fact that
former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic had been extradited
to the Hague Tribunal based on the ICTY Statute, which was
implemented by the Serbian and not the federal government.
Two of the four indictees for the Dubrovnik crimes, Gen. Pavle
Strugar and Vice Admiral Miodrag Jokic, have indirectly expressed
their willingness to surrender to the ICTY. The other two, Vice
Admiral Milan Zec and Vladimir Kovacevic, an active Yugoslav Army
captain, have not commented on the indictments.
(hina) ha