BELGRADE REFUSES TO EXTRADITE WAR CRIME SUSPECTS TO ICTY

BELGRADE, Dec 15 (Hina) - The president of the Yugoslav Supreme Military Tribunal in Belgrade, Major General Milos Gojkovic, said on Monday the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would not extradite three officers of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The three Yugoslav officers, Mile Mrksic, Veselin Sljivancanin, Miroslav Radic, are accused of war crimes against civilians committed in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991. In his interview for Radio Belgrade, Gojkovic said it was possible the three officers might be accused were the ICTY to submit evidence of their guilt. He pointed out however the officers could be tried only before a Yugoslav court. Gojkovic called the extradition request a "form of political pressure on Yugoslavia". He said the FRY had made a concession to the ICTY by starting an investigation against "unknown perpetrators" of the crimes in Vukovar and by calling the three Yugoslav Officers to testify as witnesses before the Yugoslav court. Gojkovic said Yugoslavia had demonstrated its willingness for cooperation with the ICTY by inviting ICTY representatives to attend the hearings. The United States state secretary's assistant for democracy and human rights, Harold Koh, is expected to visit Belgrade on Tuesday, where he is to request the extradition of the three officers from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. After the JNA broke the three-month defence of Vukovar in late 1991, it deported the entire non-Serbian population, executing the men and the wounded at a farm near Vukovar. This massacre occurred between November 19 and 20, 1991, when representatives of the international community were in Vukovar. (hina) it/jn/ha