Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- [The "reformers' revelations'" - add as many sets of quotes as you choose - "helped prepare public opinion for the extradition of Milosevic" - again - is of course a reversal of causality and and a distortion of reality. The extradition - kidnapping, abduction, gross violation of Serbian republican and Yugoslav federal law - was decided on first; the alleged discovery of equally alleged 'mass graves' came later. Just as with Racak and the war. I hope someone is recording the names in the following dispatch; ater all, evidence of this sort prove extremely useul in the first, eponymous Quisling's trial.] Tuesday September 4 6:06 AM ET Del Ponte Seeks Belgrade Cooperation on War Crimes By Julijana Mojsilovic BELGRADE (Reuters) - The U.N.'s chief war crimes prosecutor held talks about further cooperation with Serbian officials on Tuesday after signs of disagreement on handing over President Milan Milutinovic to the Dutch-based tribunal. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said on Monday that because of presidential immunity Milutinovic would not be sent to The Hague court to face Kosovo war crimes charges following the June handover of Slobodan Milosevic. A spokeswoman for U.N. prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, visiting Belgrade for the first time since the handover of the ousted leader, said local immunity did not protect those indicted by the tribunal for wartime atrocities. But there was no sign of tension during Del Ponte's first meeting with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, who heads government efforts to help improve the situation for beleaguered minority Serbs in U.N.-administered Kosovo. Covic said the two had discussed ``comprehensive cooperation�� but not the issue of extraditing more suspects. ``I did not feel there was even an intention to exert pressure on our authorities, not in one sentence said by Carla Del Ponte or the approach of her aides,�� he told reporters. She was later to meet Djindjic and Justice Minister Vladan Batic, who said on Monday he would demand that the U.N. court indict leaders of the formally disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which battled Serb forces during the 1998-99 conflict. Covic said her office had asked for facts concerning crimes allegedly committed by ethnic Albanians against Kosovo's Serbs. ``We have been asked to present facts on all crimes committed by the KLA in Kosovo,�� he said. DEL PONTE TO VISIT BELGRADE MASS GRAVE Del Ponte, who last week said she would also indict Milosevic for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, was in the afternoon expected to visit a mass grave near Belgrade believed to hold ethnic Albanian victims of the Kosovo war. Analysts say the reformers' revelations of the existence in Serbia of such sites helped prepare public opinion for their extradition of Milosevic more than two months ago, paving the way for Western pledges of aid and loans of $1.3 billion. Officials at the U.N. court earlier said 37 people wanted for alleged atrocities during the violent break-up of the old socialist Yugoslavia in the 1990s were still at large and that several live in what remains of the federation. They include Milutinovic, the only senior Milosevic-era official publicly indicted by the U.N. court who has remained in his post. Djindjic, the driving force behind Milosevic's transfer, last week stressed the need to work with the U.N. tribunal to bring the country closer to the rest of Europe and said Serbia ''will have to extradite some of the 15 accused known to us.'' But he made clear on Monday that Milutinovic, whose term in office expires in 2002, would not be transferred to The Hague as long as he remained president. ``We refuse to extradite Serbian President Milan Milutinovic to the tribunal in The Hague because, according to our laws, he has immunity,�� local media quoted the premier as saying. But Del Ponte's spokeswoman said all suspects must be handed over, even if they enjoyed local immunity. ``The obligation of the state of Yugoslavia is for Mr. Milutinovic and all the indictees living on the territory of Yugoslavia to be transferred to The Hague,�� Florence Hartmann told reporters on her arrival in Belgrade on Monday evening. The U.N. tribunal indicted Milutinovic together with Milosevic and three other senior officials of his government in 1999 for atrocities by Yugoslav and Serb forces under their command against Kosovo's majority Albanian population. (Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
