HAGUE PROSECUTION MIGHT APPEAL DECISION ON MILOSEVIC TRIALS

THE HAGUE, Dec 12 (Hina) - The prosecutor's office of the Hague war crimes tribunal may appeal a panel of judges' decision to hold two separate trials to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said on Wednesday. The prosecutor's office is waiting for the tribunal's decision and explanations in writing, she told a regular news conference, announcing the possibility of an appeal to the decision to hold a combined trial for Bosnia and Croatia and another for Kosovo. The prosecutor's office had requested combining all three cases into one trial. The office might be ready for the Croatia-Bosnia trial by next summer, while the trial for Kosovo is ready, said prosecutor Geoffrey Nice. The latter starts on Feb. 12 and the prosecutor's office expects to wrap up its part of the proceedings within nine months. The start date of the Croatia-Bosnia trial has not been set yet. The rules of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia do not preclude the concurrent holding of two trials to one defendant, according to Christian Chartier, chief of the information office. He said Feb. 12 could be the deadline for Belgrade's authorities to extradite four defendants on the Kosovo indictment, including incumbent Serbian President Milan Milutinovic. There are no specific signals from Belgrade that Milutinovic, Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Dragoljub Ojdanic, and Nikola Sainovic will be extradited, said Hartmann. (hina) ha sb