ICTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR PLEDGES ARRESTS WOULD CONTINUE

SARAJEVO, Oct 4 (Hina) - Chief prosecutor for the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte, on Wednesday categorically dismissed any possibility of a bargain with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in exchange for his stepping down. The indictment against Milosevic will not be withdrawn, del Ponte said in Sarajevo commenting on a suggestion by the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights, Jirzi Dienstbier, that the incumbent Yugoslav President be given immunity from criminal prosecution should he decide to step down from power peacefully. Del Ponte, who is on a four-day visit to Sarajevo told reporters she had been shocked to hear the suggestion by the former Czech foreign minister. There is absolutely no legal reason to withdraw the indictment against Milosevic, she asserted. Del Ponte's deputy Graham Blewitt confirmed the existing indictment against Milosevic was being expanded for his responsibility for crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina. The issuing of an extended indictment can be expected for next year, Blewitt said. Investigations into all war crimes committed in the region of the former Yugoslavia and new indictments will continue, they said. Del Ponte expressed disappointment with the fact that not one war crimes suspect had been arrested in the past three months, stressing hope something would be done about the issue soon. I am hoping for quick and positive results, del Ponte said, adding she had reason to believe new apprehensions were to be expected soon. This task remains to be that of the Stabilisation Force and NATO member-countries, she said. Asked why Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has not yet been arrested, del Ponte said the apprehension of such persons was a difficult task. They keep moving, they are well protected and it is difficult to discover their exact location. We must be able to predict their whereabouts, del Ponte said. Commenting on the "Ahmici case", del Ponte said people connected with the case and apprehended by the Croatian police remain under the jurisdiction of the Croatian justice system. The international war crimes tribunal, according to her, is directly interested only in one person involved in the war crime committed in this central Bosnian village during the war, but this person is currently at large. She refused to say who this person might be. During their stay in Sarajevo, del Ponte and Blewitt held talks with the Sarajevo Canton prosecutor, Mustafa Bisic, and officials of the Bosniak (Moslem) secret service -- the Agency for Investigation and Documentation (AID). Graham Blewitt said Tribunal officials were satisfied with the cooperation of the Sarajevo state prosecutor. He Stressed Bosnian sources had provided the ICTY with documents on some 500 cases, while the Tribunal was investigating about 300 of the cases. Asked whether they spoke with Bisic about the murder of 32 Croats in Herzegovina's village of Grabovica during the war, for which members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Army were being suspected, Blewitt said it would be possible to discuss the success of the investigation into the case after its completion. During their stay in Bosnia-Herzegovina, del Ponte and Blewitt met officials of the international community in the country, representatives of the country's Commission for Missing Persons and the association of mothers of killed persons from Srebrenica. They are scheduled to leave for the Bosnian Serb entity's capital, Banja Luka, on Thursday to hold talks with Republika Srpska's Premier Milorad Dodik and Justice Minister Cedo Vrzin. (hina) lml