KOSOVO LAWYERS SEEK EXPANDING MILOSEVIC INDICTMENT

PRISTINA, Oct 24 (Hina) - A group of lawyers on Kosovo's Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms has requested the UN's war crimes tribunal at The Hague to expand an indictment against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to include genocide on Kosovo. A delegation of Kosovo lawyers last week visited the headquarters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), where it handed over evidence indicating that during the conflict in the southern Yugoslav province, Serbian forces committed genocide on ethnic Albanians on Milosevic's orders. "Genocide was committed in Kosovo and there is evidence that Milosevic committed that crime too, but the Hague tribunal was convinced there were no elements to accuse Milosevic for genocide," attorney Nekibe Kelmendi told reporters in Pristina. The ICTY has accused the former Yugoslav head of state of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 1999. "Our remarks were accepted in principle and there is promise that the indictment against Milosevic may be expanded, but our task is to submit all the facts," said Fazli Balaj, one of the attorneys who visited the ICTY. (hina) ha sb