SERBIAN INTERIOR MINISTERS SAYS HE WON'T ALLOW HAND-OVER OF POLICE OFFICERS TO ICTY

BELGRADE, Nov 22 (Hina) - Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said in a statement on Thursday evening that, as long as he was minister, "not one police officer will be handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal, nor will he be interrogated without my consent." The statement was issued after the weekly "Reporter" and the daily "Blic" published a list of 17 members of the Serbian Interior Ministry about whom the Hague war crimes tribunal is gathering evidence, and the names of 345 police officers who are witnesses or have been accused by the tribunal, and "who definitely participated in Kosovo operations." The Serbian interior ministry or government do not have any list of police officers accused of war crimes and there are no Serbian police officers on the existing unsealed and sealed ICTY indictments, Mihajlovic said. "I am confident the lies and dishonourable behaviour of irresponsible individuals will not prevent the police from performing their regular duties in line with the law and rules of their service," Mihajlovic said. The Belgrade Municipal Court yesterday ordered the police to investigate the circumstances under which the said lists were made known. Some Belgrade media have speculated that last week's seven- day riot of a special police unit was organised because some of its members are on the ICTY lists and demand guarantees that they will not be handed over to the tribunal. (hina) rml